Impact of postal and telephone reminders on pick-up rates of unclaimed e-prescriptions.Show others and affiliations
2008 (English)In: Pharmacy World & Science, ISSN 0928-1231, E-ISSN 1573-739X, Vol. 30, no 5, p. 503-508Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of a reminder (i.e., a mailed letter or short telephone call) from the pharmacy to patients, compared with no reminder in a control group, on the pick-up rates of unclaimed e-prescriptions. METHOD: Patients, with e-prescriptions transmitted to four large community pharmacies in two counties in northern Sweden and remaining unclaimed after 4 weekdays, were randomised to one of two intervention groups (a mailed reminder or a short telephonic reminder) or a control group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates of patients' pick-up of their e-prescriptions at follow-up after about 1, 2 and 3 weeks. RESULTS: Altogether, 320 patients with e-prescriptions, transmitted from March 21 through April 6 and not picked-up or dispensed, were identified and randomised to the study. There were no statistically significant differences in overall pick-up rates between the groups or with respect to gender. However, pick-up rates increased with increasing age. Higher pick-up rates were observed for two subgroups (but only in the mailed reminder group compared with controls)--for cardiovascular drugs to men and for respiratory drugs to adolescents and young adults. CONCLUSION: A reminder (i.e., a mailed letter or short telephone call) from the pharmacy to the patient had no statistically significant effect on overall pick-up rates of unclaimed e-prescriptions compared with no reminders.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Netherlands , 2008. Vol. 30, no 5, p. 503-508
Keyword [en]
Pick-up rates, Primary non-compliance, Reminders, Unclaimed prescriptions, Sweden
National Category
Social and Clinical Pharmacy
Research subject
Natural Science; Biomedical Sciences, Pharmacology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hik:diva-1443DOI: 10.1007/s11096-008-9196-5PubMedID: 18247155OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hik-1443DiVA, id: diva2:211096
2009-04-082009-04-082018-01-13Bibliographically approved