Improvement of patients’ antibiotic adherence: a descriptive analysis of pharmacists’ interventions

Community and hospital pharmacists are responsible for the correct dispensation of antibiotics and patient counselling. This descriptive study aimed to identify the potentially effective pharmacists’ interventions which improved patients’ antibiotic adherence, based on the findings of a set of studies identified in a previous developed systematic review. Only controlled trials evaluating the impact of pharmaceutical interventions on patient adherence to antibiotics, i.e., intervention group vs. usual care/control group were conveniently selected. These studies were grouped and analyzed based on the distinction between trials with significant vs. non-significant improvements on patients’adherence to antibiotics. Twenty-one trials were identified, but only 2/3 presented statistically significant results. Diverse pharmaceutical interventions significantly improved patients’ antibiotic adherence, such as structured interventions, the use of visual aids, detailed counseling, written information, call-back phone calls, or the dispensation of personalized doses of antibiotics. Reinforced pharmacist education is likely to be especially relevant in the case of complex therapies (e.g., H. pylori treatment) and/or low literacy patients. In conclusion, structured and/or reinforced pharmaceutical interventions can significantly improve patients’ antibiotic adherence in community or hospital pharmacies, according to some of the analyzed studies.