Abstract

EVALUATION OF PATIENT COUNSELING SERVICES PROVIDED BY COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS AND ITS IMPACT ON MEDICATION ADHERENCE IN CHRONIC DISEASE PATIENTS: A PROSPECTIVE INTERVENTIONAL STUDY IN PALWANCHA, TELANGANA

Poor medication adherence undermines the control of chronic diseases. Community pharmacists can deliver structured counselling to improve it. This study evaluated the impact of pharmacist-led counselling on medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension or bronchial asthma in Palwancha, Telangana. Methods: A prospective, pre-post interventional study enrolled 150 chronic-disease patients across five community pharmacies. Adherence was measured with the validated 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) at baseline, one month and three months after a diseasespecific counselling intervention. Satisfaction was assessed with the PSQ-15. Paired t-tests and the McNemar test were used (p<0.05). Results: At baseline, 68.7% had low adherence (MMAS-8 <=5; mean 4.68 +/- 1.42) and baseline counselling quality was poor (composite score 32.5%). After intervention, low adherence fell to 38.7% at one month and 24.0% at three months (McNemar p<0.001), and mean MMAS-8 rose to 6.87 +/- 1.05 (+2.19; paired t-test p<0.001). Improvement was greatest in diabetes (+2.48). Satisfaction was high (82.7% good/excellent) and correlated with adherence gain (r=0.52, p<0.001).Conclusion: Structured community-pharmacist counselling significantly improved medication adherence across three chronic diseases, supporting its institutionalisation in community-pharmacy practice