Promoting Safe Use of Medications: Providing Medication Education to Seniors Receiving Meals on Wheels

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess whether pharmacist-provided medication education and counseling to Meals on Wheels (MOW) participants decreases medication-related preventable harm and improves adherence. DESIGN: Prospective, quasi-experiment. SETTING: Ambulatory congregrate dining centers. PATIENTS: Persons 60 years of age and older participating in MOW receiving prescription, nonprescription, or complementary products were eligible. In total, 42 patients consented. Five patients did not complete the first visit, and 13 patients did not complete the six-month follow-up visit. INTERVENTIONS: Pharmacists provided comprehensive medication education about prescription, nonprescription, and complementary products at baseline. Additional resources to enhance adherence and avoid medication-related preventable harm were provided and discussed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Medication-related preventable harm and medication adherence were assessed before pharmacist intervention and six months after intervention. Adherence was assessed and compared with baseline using the Morisky scale and pill counts. RESULTS: Women constituted the majority of participants (94.4%) with an average age of 74.5 ± 8.2 years. Mean difference in Morisky score from baseline to six months was 0.28 (-0.11 to 0.56). After adjustment for age and living situation, the change in Morisky score was associated with a 14% improvement in adherence. Mean differences in drug-drug and drug-supplement interactions, and medication-related harm were not significantly reduced from baseline to study end. CONCLUSION: Pharmacist intervention with MOW participants appeared to improve medication adherence rates but had limited effect on medication-related preventable harm. No findings reached statistical significance as the sample size was inadequate. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.