Strategies to implement a patient counseling and medication tickler system - A study of Maryland pharmacists and their hypertensive patients

The Maryland Pharmacy High Blood Pressure Program (MPHBPP) successfully enrolled over 100 pharmacies (approximately 200 pharmacists) in a program to educate, monitor and follow-up hypertensive patients to improve patient compliance with therapy regimen. Utilizing diffusion of innovation as a theoretical framework, strategies were developed to identify pharmacists willing to consider participation and implement a patient counseling and medication tickler system. Pharmacists who maintained patient profiles, had a private consultation area, provided verbal instruction and were members of one or more professional societies were over represented among the adopters and correlation (0.48, P = 0.00) and regression (r² = 0.18) analyses of these prior behaviors indicate that they were the best predictors of adopting the program. We conclude that added practice changes can be achieved if programs are tailored to be compatible with the practices of those who have already demonstrated the interest and capacity to change.