Treatment adherence in dementia patients and clinical pharmacist role

Due to the increase in the elderly population in the world and in our country, the prevalence of dementia, which is one of the most common diseases in this age group, is rapidly increasing. Early diagnosis and treatment of dementia is very important for the course of the disease. Because of the increasing behavioral and psychological symptoms as the disease progresses, caregivers need to be supported and informed about the progress and management of dementia to ensure appropriate care. The aim of this study was to improve adherence with dementia treatment and to increase the dementia knowledge level of caregivers by clinical pharmacist. This study was conducted between October 2018-May 2019 in Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Department of Internal Disease Geriatrics Subdivision Outpatient Clinic. A total of 94 dementia patients and 91 caregivers were included in the study and evaluated by the clinical pharmacist. Patients and their caregivers were interviewed at the beginning of the study and following outpatient appointments and drug adherence scale, care burden scale and dementia knowledge scale were applied. The high adherence rate to dementia treatment was found to be 70.2% at the first interview. Side effects reported with dementia drugs were most commonly associated with rivastigmine transdermal patch. It was found that the knowledge level of the caregiver was high and the burden of caregiving was severe. In the second interview after the clinical pharmacist informed about the importance of adherence with dementia drugs and the caregiver about the wrong answers given in the dementia information scale, the number of patients with adherence increased to 95.7% and significant increase in the number of correct answers in the information scale was observed (p<0.05). Collaboration of clinical pharmacist with physicians plays an important role in improving adherence to dementia treatment and increasing the knowledge level of caregivers about the disease.