How to investigate levels of Adherence to antiretroviral ... - INRUD

Chapter 3
Indicators for possible determinants of adherence
14. ARV dispensing rate—Percentage of patients who had all prescribed ARVs dispensed
at the health facility.
Rationale
Source of data
Data collection
Computation
Comments
Failure to dispense, during the patient visit, all ARVs that were prescribed is a
primary barrier to adherence.
Patient exit interviews.
For sample of 30 patients attending on day of data collection (or all patients if
< 30 attend that day), check to see if all ARVs prescribed were dispensed.
(Number of patients dispensed all ARVs prescribed/number of patients
surveyed) × 100.
Need to ask if patients were told to fill prescription outside of health facility or
to return earlier than usual to pick up additional ARVs.
15. Non-ARV medicines dispensing rate—Percentage of patients who had all prescribed
medicines dispensed at the health facility.
Rationale
Source of data
Failure to dispense during the patient visit all non-ARV medicines prescribed can
contribute to overall low adherence.
Patient exit interviews.
Data collection For sample of 30 patients attending on day of data collection (or all patients if <
30 attend that day), check to see if all non-ARV medicines prescribed were
dispensed.
Computation
Comments
(Number of patients dispensed all non-ARV medicines prescribed/number of
patients surveyed) × 100.
Need to ask if patients were told to fill prescription outside of health facility or
to return earlier than usual to pick up additional non-ARV medicines.
16. Proper medicines labelling—Percentage of patients for whom all medicines dispensed
are adequately labelled.
Rationale
Source of data
Data collection
Computation
Comments
Proper labelling of all medicines promotes better knowledge about their use and
is essential for patient safety.
Patient exit interviews.
Based on a sample of 30 patients attending on day of data collection (or all
patients if < 30 attend that day—For each medicine, the labelling on the
container in which they were dispensed must contain name of medicine, how
many times a day to take medicine, and how much to take each time.
(Number of patients with all dispensed medicines labelled correctly/number of
patients assessed) × 100.
Medicines must each be dispensed in a separate container (pill bottle or
envelope), and each container must contain at a minimum the three items of
labelling assessed.
These items all are important for whether the patient can take the medicine regularly as
prescribed.
21