A multinational cross-sectional survey of the management of patient medication adherence by European healthcare professionals

Objectives: To examine which interventions healthcare professionals use to support patients with taking medicines and their perceptions about the effectiveness of those actions. Design: Cross-sectional multinational study. Setting: Online survey in Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland. Participants: A total of 3196 healthcare professionals comprising doctors (855), nurses (1047) and pharmacists (1294) currently registered and practising in primary care and community settings. Main outcome measures: Primary outcome: Responses to the question 'I ask patients if they have missed any doses of their medication' for each profession and in each country. Secondary outcome: Responses to 50 items concerning healthcare professional behaviour to support patients with medication-taking for each profession and in each country. Results: Approximately half of the healthcare professionals in the survey ask patients with long-term conditions whether they have missed any doses of their medication on a regular basis. Pharmacists persistently report that they intervene less than the other two professions to support patients with medicines. No country effects were found for the primary outcome. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals in Europe are limited in the extent to which they intervene to assist patients having long-term conditions with medication adherence. This represents a missed opportunity to support people with prescribed treatment. These conclusions are based on the largest international survey to date of healthcare professionals' management of medication adherence.