Home care patients' experiences with home care nurses' support in medication adherence.

ABSTRACT: Aim To describe home care nurses’ interventions for medication adherence, and patients’ experiences and desired improvements with this care. Methods Questionnaires and interviews were performed. Patients of the care panel of the Netherlands Patients Federation participated. Descriptive statistics and a thematic analysis approach were used. Results 59 patients participated (questionnaire n = 59, interviews n = 14). The satisfaction score was 7.9 (IQR 7–9). Most common interventions were: noticing when I don’t take medication as prescribed (n = 35) and helping me to find solutions to overcome problems with using medications (n = 32). Fifteen participants missed C 1 interventions. Most mentioned the following: regularly asking about potential problems with medication use (33%) and regularly discussing whether using medication is going well (29%). Positive experiences included: improved self-management of adequate medication taking, discussion of adherence problems, and the arrangement of practical support for medication use. Negative experiences included: insufficient timing of home visits, rushed appearance of nurses, and insufficient expertise about side effects and taking medication. Home visits on time, more time for providing support in medication use, and more expertise about side effects and administering medication were suggested. Discussion Patients receive several adherence support interventions from home care nurses, and a few wanted more interventions. Conclusion Overall, patients were satisfied with home care nurses’ support. Nurses’ support improved self-management of medication taking and enabled discussion of adherence problems. Adequately timed home visits, more time for support, and accurate medicationrelated knowledge are desired.