Factors related to missing and rescheduling pharmaceutical care appointments by aged outpatients in a Brazilian public health setting
Keywords:
Health Services for the Aged, Appointments and Schedules, Pharmaceutical Services, Professional-Patient RelationsAbstract
Objectives. To uncover reasons why patients missed pharmaceutical care (PC) appointments, identify predictive factors to miss at least one appointment and to reschedule after a miss, and compare the rescheduling behavior of patients receiving different types of PC.
Methods. All elderly patients who had at least one scheduled appointment in the PC service of a health setting of São Paulo city, Brazil, from January to December/2011 were included. Chi-square analysis compared categorical data between groups; multivariate logistic regression models predicted attendance and rescheduling behavior.
Results. We identified 421 patients, being 221 (52.5%) non-attenders. Forgetting the appointment was the most common patient-related reason (56.3%). Illiteracy was a risk factor to be a non-attender [OR(95%CI)=2.27(1.17:4.40), p=0.015]. Patients having previous knowledge of the pharmacist presented more chance to rescheduled an appointment after the first miss compared to those who had not [OR(95%CI)=3.57(1.90:6.71), p<0.001]. Further, non-attenders who had knowledge of the pharmacist and received Medication Review with Follow-up rescheduled more than the ones receiving other types of PC (p=0.035).
Conclusion. Illiteracy predicted non-attendance in PC to aged outpatients and forgetfulness was the main reason for that. The previous acquaintance of the pharmacist and the provision of pharmaceotherapeutic follow-up explained the rescheduling behavior, which indicates the establishment of a patient-centered patient-pharmacist relationship plays a pivotal role in the continuity of the PC.
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