Integrated Practice Model Can Improve Adherence to Multiple Sclerosis Therapies
Integrated clinical and specialty pharmacy practice model includes an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.
Integrated clinical and specialty pharmacy practice model includes an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.
Use of an integrated approach to care can improve patient compliance with multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies, according to a
Developed by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UI Health), the model seeks to address patient compliance with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that are used to treat MS, which are often costly and require special administration, handling, and storage. The treatment is also associated with a high rate of nonadherence and additional safety risks.
“Management of DMTs can be challenging because of the specialized training and monitoring requirements, the debilitating nature of MS, and the high rates of patient nonadherence,” the authors write. “Some authors have reported that nonadherence rates are notably higher with DMTs compared with other long-term medications.”
Various studies have placed DMT adherence rates among patients with MS at anywhere from 41% to 88%.
“Poor adherence may be attributable to a lack of observable effect on symptoms, the severity of the disease, insufficient knowledge about the disease, insufficient social support, unrealistic expectations regarding therapy benefits, the need for frequent and lifelong injections, a fear of injections, and troublesome adverse effects,” the authors note.
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