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Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Managing and taking multiple medications as prescribed can be a difficult task for older adults. In-home medication dispensing technologies could help enhance care. The objective of the study was to determine users’ perspectives on a medication dispensing system (MDS) in supporting medic...

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Autores principales: Ahmad, Armghan, Chiu, Venus, Arain, Mubashir Aslam
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7023880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32104106
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/MDER.S241062
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author Ahmad, Armghan
Chiu, Venus
Arain, Mubashir Aslam
author_facet Ahmad, Armghan
Chiu, Venus
Arain, Mubashir Aslam
author_sort Ahmad, Armghan
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Managing and taking multiple medications as prescribed can be a difficult task for older adults. In-home medication dispensing technologies could help enhance care. The objective of the study was to determine users’ perspectives on a medication dispensing system (MDS) in supporting medication adherence of individuals living at home with chronic conditions. METHODS: This analysis is a part of a randomized controlled trial on an MDS in a Western Canadian province. We interviewed participants who were recruited into the intervention group and started using an MDS. A maximum variation purposive sampling was used to select interview participants based on age, number of medications, and health conditions. RESULTS: Thirteen participants were interviewed; most participants were females (n=11) and the average age was 63.7 (SD=8.2) years with an average of 8.9 (SD=3.6) prescribed medications. The most common health conditions were hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and anxiety and depression. Four main themes emerged from thematic analysis: MDS acceptability, MDS patient support, need for the MDS, and areas of technology improvement. Most of the participants found the MDS to be acceptable and convenient, although privacy and security was an issue for some older adults. Audio and visual reminders and pre-organized medication supported participants’ medication adherence and independence in daily routines. The perceived necessity of the MDS was split among participants with cost being one of the main concerns. Areas of technology improvement included the hard-to-open plastic medication packets and the sometimes inexact recording of medication adherence by the MDS if medications were dispensed on behalf of the patients. CONCLUSION: The MDS is an acceptable tool for improving medication management and adherence in older adults. Increased medication adherence may lead to patient and system-level benefits.
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spelling pubmed-70238802020-02-26 Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study Ahmad, Armghan Chiu, Venus Arain, Mubashir Aslam Med Devices (Auckl) Original Research BACKGROUND: Managing and taking multiple medications as prescribed can be a difficult task for older adults. In-home medication dispensing technologies could help enhance care. The objective of the study was to determine users’ perspectives on a medication dispensing system (MDS) in supporting medication adherence of individuals living at home with chronic conditions. METHODS: This analysis is a part of a randomized controlled trial on an MDS in a Western Canadian province. We interviewed participants who were recruited into the intervention group and started using an MDS. A maximum variation purposive sampling was used to select interview participants based on age, number of medications, and health conditions. RESULTS: Thirteen participants were interviewed; most participants were females (n=11) and the average age was 63.7 (SD=8.2) years with an average of 8.9 (SD=3.6) prescribed medications. The most common health conditions were hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and anxiety and depression. Four main themes emerged from thematic analysis: MDS acceptability, MDS patient support, need for the MDS, and areas of technology improvement. Most of the participants found the MDS to be acceptable and convenient, although privacy and security was an issue for some older adults. Audio and visual reminders and pre-organized medication supported participants’ medication adherence and independence in daily routines. The perceived necessity of the MDS was split among participants with cost being one of the main concerns. Areas of technology improvement included the hard-to-open plastic medication packets and the sometimes inexact recording of medication adherence by the MDS if medications were dispensed on behalf of the patients. CONCLUSION: The MDS is an acceptable tool for improving medication management and adherence in older adults. Increased medication adherence may lead to patient and system-level benefits. Dove 2020-02-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7023880/ /pubmed/32104106 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/MDER.S241062 Text en © 2020 Ahmad et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Ahmad, Armghan
Chiu, Venus
Arain, Mubashir Aslam
Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study
title Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study
title_full Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study
title_short Users' Perceptions of an in-Home Electronic Medication Dispensing System: A Qualitative Study
title_sort users' perceptions of an in-home electronic medication dispensing system: a qualitative study
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7023880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32104106
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/MDER.S241062
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