Medication Adherence Education in U.S. Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy

Abstract

Specific Aims: Medication adherence is the extent to which patients take their medications correctly and consistently as prescribed.1 The objective of this study was to assess Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)- preaccredited and accredited schools and colleges of pharmacy for adherence course content in their curricula. Methods: The survey link was sent via email to the Department of Pharmacy Practice Chair, or equivalent, at each institution. The data collected via the online survey included information regarding the details of medication adherence curriculum present at the program. All data remained confidential. Chi-square statistical test was used for analysis to compare hours of adherence education taught in older (in existence ≥ 20 years) versus newer (< 20 years) programs. Main Results: Twenty-eight programs responded among 130 inquiries (22% response rate). Of the respondents, only two colleges of pharmacy offered a course on medication adherence, one as an elective and one as required. Common adherence principles were incorporated into other pharmacy courses with the most common topics being counseling, patient education and communication skills. Older programs taught more hours (> 20 hours) focused on adherence compared to the newer programs, but they did not differ significantly (p = 0.39). Conclusion: Despite the low response rate, the findings show a lack of curricular focus on medication adherence, particularly as an individual course. Further studies are needed to identify adherence training received by student pharmacists, and to evaluate the impact of adherence-focused curriculum components on provision of patient care centered on medication adherence by pharmacy practitioners.