Multi-compartment compliance aids

Survey reveals 85% of hospital trusts report problems with medication compliance aids

The questionnaire was distributed by the NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service to chief pharmacists at every acute trust in England.…

Providing medicines adherence support to areas of high deprivation in England: community pharmacists’ experience

Semi-structured interviews assessing pharmacists’ experiences of providing interventions, products and services that support medicines adherence.…

Use of multicompartment compliance aids in the community is ‘excessive’, says NHS Wales

The use of multicompartment compliance aids in the community is “excessive” and an “ingrained area of practice” that needs to be challenged, guidance from NHS Wales is expected to warn. …

New tool developed to support decision-making on multicompartment compliance aids

Researchers have developed a decision tool to ensure that multi-compartment compliance aids are given only those patients who will benefit from them.…

Are we dispensing too many multicompartment compliance aids?

Millions of multicompartment compliance aids (MCAs) are handed out by pharmacists each year, but evidence for their benefits is hard to find. Few patients are assessed before being given an MCA and concerns are building over potential errors and harms.…

Compliance aids reduce medicine administration errors in care homes

Researchers observe higher accuracy rates when multi-compartment containers are used instead of original packaging to administer tablets to care-home residents.…

Pill organisers could put older patients at risk of adverse events

The use of pill organisers by older people could increase the risk of drug-related adverse events, say researchers.…

Automated hub-and-spoke dispensing will create opportunities for greater patient contact; unless it’s all about the bottom line

Hub-and-spoke dispensing has the potential to change community pharmacy for the better but questions remain.…

Calendar packs can aid adherence

All medicines that are taken regularly (e.g. for blood pressure) should have the days of the week printed on the blister pack to aid adherence. Unfortunately I find it increasingly difficult to find such packaging. If these were more readily available it may reduce the number of patients needing and…