Pharmacist Communication and Patient Medication Adherence in Ghana

Abstract

This study was inspired by the assumption that a consultative-based approach to pharmacy services offered opportunities for improving health service delivery outcomes in developing countries like Ghana, where there is a wide deficit of doctor-to-patient ratios. Specifically, the study was conducted to investigate: the nature of pharmacist communication; the factors that influence pharmacist communication; the relationship between pharmacist communication and patient medication adherence; and the barriers to pharmacist-client communication. It was underpinned by the communication perspective in Munro et al’s (2007) five factors of patient medication adherence. Employing the survey research design, the study involved the administration of questionnaires to a sample of 60 pharmacists and 196 patients (clients) of pharmacy facilities within the La Nkwantanang-Madina municipality of the Greater Accra region. Results showed that pharmacists reported to have exhibited good communication practice skills. However, the expectation, contingent on the literature and theory, that communication would improve medication adherence was not borne out by the findings of this study. There was no significant association between pharmacist communication and patient medication adherence. The study concluded that in order for communication to manifest in observable improvements in client satisfaction and improved medication adherence, the concept of consultation-based pharmacy service must become a mainstream element in both the training of pharmacists and the practice of their profession. Secondly, communication may not be a sufficient condition for medication adherence. Barriers, including such communication barriers as language, health literacy and pharmacist-client interaction time, were identified as factors that must be addressed in order to improve the role and outcomes of communication as a factor in healthcare delivery in Ghana.