Pilot testing of the S-MAP intervention in community pharmacies
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A pilot study of the S-MAP (Solutions for Medication Adherence Problems) intervention in older adults prescribed polypharmacy in primary care
IRAS ID
234121
Contact name
Carmel Hughes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
This research study will pilot test a new service that aims to help older patients (aged 65 years or older) who are taking several medicines in Northern Ireland and London. This service will be delivered in community pharmacies, by trained pharmacists. To develop this service we held focus group discussions with older patients and have initially tested how this works in a small study at two pharmacies and with ten patients in total. This helped us identify how we could improve the service for both older patients and pharmacists. Some uncertainties still remain (e.g. how best to identify older people who could benefit) and so we want to test the refined service and in a larger group of pharmacies and patients. The current pilot study will involve pharmacists delivering the newly refined service to older patients. Our previous study found that a strict number of appointments was not ideal for this group of patients. Therefore, the number of sessions that each patient attends will be tailored to each patient's needs (minimum of two, maximum of four sessions). During these sessions patients will be asked about any difficulties they experience when taking several medicines. In a new approach, the pharmacist will use a hand-held electronic device (an iPad) to guide these sessions and record recommendations made. Together, the patient and pharmacist will choose the best solutions to help overcome any difficulties. This study will allow us to see how the refined service works in a larger group of participants. As part of this study we will audio-record a sample of sessions (with permission from participants) to explore how these went. This pilot study will help us to decide if we should proceed to a larger randomised study to explore if this service is better than usual care in community pharmacies.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
17/NI/0193
Date of REC Opinion
30 Oct 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion