Adherence to Polypharmacy in Patients With Opioid Substitution Therapy Using Electronics (APPOSTEL)

University Hospital Basel

Status: Completed

Conditions: Substance-Related Disorders

Treatments: Device: electronic medication dispenser (medido)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02701660

APPOSTEL-1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Electronic dispensers for polypharmacy are used in home care to assist patients with their medication management and to improve adherence. Opioid dependent patients with substitution therapy often exhibit multiple risk factors for non-adherence. The increase of both the age and associated comorbidities in this population demand for innovative solutions to optimize medication management. The investigators developed a novel medication supply model with an automated electronic medication dispenser to simultaneously assist opioid dependent patients with their medication and objectively monitor their adherence. This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the new supply model.

Enrollment: 5 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• written informed consent given
• reading and writing skills in German
• Stable housing situation in the canton of Basel-City and adjacent communities
• Accessibility by phone
• Minimum duration in opioid substitution treatment for 2 months
• Polypharmacy (> 3 solid oral medications)
• Routine monitoring of clinical parameters less than 1 week before inclusion or agreed within 1 week from inclusion
• Insured with Swiss health insurance

Exclusion criteria

• opioid substitution treatment with Diacetylmorphine
• > 2 drugs, which can not be packaged in pouches (eg liquids)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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5 participants in 1 patient group

electronic medication dispenser

Experimental group

Description:

An Automatic Tablet Dispensing and Packaging System is used to repack all solid oral prescription medications for each participant into unit-of-dose pouches. Every participant receives a roll with pouches for 14-28 days loaded into a dispenser installed at their homes. The electronic medication dispenser is a remote controlled, electronic medication management aid reminding the patients with acoustic alerts to take their medication.

Treatment:

Device: electronic medication dispenser (medido)