Connected Healthcare for Individuals Living at Home With Chronic Conditions
Medication Dispensing System to Support Medication Adherence for Individuals Living at Home With Chronic Conditions: A Randomized Controlled Trial
1 other identifier
interventional
91
1 country
1
Brief Summary
Managing and taking medications as prescribed can be a difficult task. This is especially true for older adults living at home with chronic conditions while managing multiple prescribed medications. In response, Catalyst Healthcare has adopted an integrated medication dispensing system that intends to improve patient adherence to medications and quality of care through real-time pharmacists and caregiver support.Catalyst Healthcare has launched an integrated at-home medication dispenser system called spencer. Spencer is a natural extension that plugs into Catalyst's AdhereNet platform, connecting high-risk patients in home care setting to a multi-disciplinary care team in real-time. Study is funded by the Centre of Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). Investigators are conducting a randomized controlled trial with a target sample size of 100 participants to examine the efficacy of an in-home electronic medication dispensing system (MDS) on improving medication adherence in community-dwelling older adults with chronic conditions. 50 of these participants will be assigned to the intervention group (medication management with Spencer) and 50 will be assigned to the control group (medication management without Spencer). Medication adherence and patient-related data will be collected over a six-month period. Participants health status and characteristics will be obtained through baseline assessment upon enrollment. A monthly follow-up survey will be completed to collect medication management and adherence data. Adherence data for spencer-users will be collected from Catalyst Healthcare technology platform. In the control group, adherence will be measured through monthly medication logs completed by participants.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable
Started Mar 2019
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
Study Start
First participant enrolled
March 1, 2019
CompletedFirst Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
April 6, 2020
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
April 9, 2020
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
July 31, 2020
CompletedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
July 31, 2020
CompletedResults Posted
Study results publicly available
October 20, 2020
CompletedOctober 20, 2020
September 1, 2020
1.4 years
April 6, 2020
September 1, 2020
September 25, 2020
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (2)
Recorded Medication Adherence
The intervention group adherence recording was obtained from Catalyst's AdhereNet platform. The spencer adherence was defined as percentage of medications dispensed from the system at the prescribed time. The user had a two-hour window to remove the medication pouch. If dispensed, they are given a score of 100 for the particular medication time. If not removed, the user was considered non-adherent and given a score of 0. Weekly medication adherence was calculated by taking the seven day average of daily dispensing adherence values. In the control group, adherence was measured through monthly medication calendars completed by participants. Each participant received customized calendars based on their medications timings along with instruction sheet for tracking their medications. Participants were required to mark "X" on the calendar on the day and time they missed taking their medication(s). Average adherence (weekly) was used as a primary outcome measure.
26 weeks
Self-reported Medication Adherence
The within group difference in mean rating scores of self-reported medication adherence. The adherence question asked participants to rate their medication adherence on a scale of 1 (non-adherent) to 10 (adherent).
6-months
Study Arms (2)
Intervention group
EXPERIMENTALIntervention group included medication management with Spencer.
Control Group
NO INTERVENTIONThe control group continued to use their current method of medication management, such as blister packs, strip packs, pill organizers and plastic prescription vials.
Interventions
The MDS dispenses medications on time with visual and audio reminders. The audio alert get louder if the plastic medication packet is not dispensed from the system. The MDS allows participants to dispense their medications early if they are going to be away from home. The system also displays personalized and health-condition specific questions. The pre-packaged medications are delivered by pharmacy that inserted directly into the spencer device. Spencer system is non-inclusive and approved by Health Canada.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- English speakers
- age 50 and over
- diagnosed with one or more chronic condition(s) and
- currently taking five or more prescribed oral medications.
- City of Calgary resident
You may not qualify if:
- Patients with moderate to severe cognitive impairment
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- Alberta Health Services, Calgarylead
- Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovationcollaborator
- Catalyst Healthcare Ltd.collaborator
Study Sites (1)
East Calgary Family Care Clinic
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Related Publications (2)
Chan A, De Simoni A, Wileman V, Holliday L, Newby CJ, Chisari C, Ali S, Zhu N, Padakanti P, Pinprachanan V, Ting V, Griffiths CJ. Digital interventions to improve adherence to maintenance medication in asthma. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Jun 13;6(6):CD013030. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013030.pub2.
PMID: 35691614DERIVEDArain MA, Ahmad A, Chiu V, Kembel L. Medication adherence support of an in-home electronic medication dispensing system for individuals living with chronic conditions: a pilot randomized controlled trial. BMC Geriatr. 2021 Jan 14;21(1):56. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-01979-w.
PMID: 33446126DERIVED
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Limitations and Caveats
Intermittent data collected because some participants were unavailable for all monthly follow-up phone calls; control participants were not consistently sending in tracking calendars; intervention participants experienced some technical issues.
Results Point of Contact
- Title
- Research and Evaluation Coordinator
- Organization
- Health Systems Evaluation & Evidence - Alberta Health Services
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Mubashir A Arain, PhD
Alberta Health services
Publication Agreements
- PI is Sponsor Employee
- No
- Restrictive Agreement
- No
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Senior Research and Evaluation Consultant
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
April 6, 2020
First Posted
April 9, 2020
Study Start
March 1, 2019
Primary Completion
July 31, 2020
Study Completion
July 31, 2020
Last Updated
October 20, 2020
Results First Posted
October 20, 2020
Record last verified: 2020-09
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will not share
The investigators will be aggregating the data for research purposes and will not release participant-specific data. Also, since this research falls under the auspices of AHS, all data collection, management, and storage processes will fully comply with the Health Information Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.