A SingHealth Polyclinic study gives clear evidence that medication review service improves patient’s medication knowledge and adherence. 

Offered by SingHealth Polyclinics, the Medication Review Service (MRS) is a one-on-one consultation for patients to advise them on their medical conditions and medication.   At these sessions, pharmacists help patients reconcile all the medication prescribed by the different medical centres they visit.

“Many of our elderly patients with multiple chronic diseases have a problem of poor medication compliance due to factors ranging from poor understanding or memory, or confusion given the multiple medications they have to take.   In the long term, these patients may develop more medical problems if their chronic conditions are not well-controlled,” said Bandy Goh, Clinic Pharmacist Manager at SHP.

SHP doctors refer patients with five or more chronic medication who have difficulty managing their chronic medications regimen to the service.   While the pharmacists have received favourable feedback from both doctors and patients, no previous study had been done to find out how effective MRS exactly is.

To determine whether MRS can be an effective tool in improving patient’s medication knowledge and medication adherence, the SHP Department of Pharmacy conducted a study at SHP-Bedok, SHP-Tampines, SHP-Pasir Ris and SHP-Outram from June to December 2012.