*Purpose: The purpose was to determine if the ability of pharmacy learners to educate patients and help overcome barriers to medication adherence is improved after participating in described medication adherence activity.

*Methods: All pharmacy learners on a solid organ transplant rotation participated in the adherence activity from April 1, 2019 to November 12, 2021. Learners received weekly medication lists, similar to those a transplant patient would follow, for a total of 4 weeks. They were responsible for filling a provided pillbox using candy as representation of medications and taking them as directed by the medication list. After completion of the activity, their adherence was assessed by the Immunosuppressive Therapy Adherence Scale (ITAS) and general feedback regarding their experience was provided via an anonymous, online survey.

*Results: Forty-nine learners participated in the activity and completed the survey. Twenty-nine (59%) were pharmacy students and twenty (41%) were pharmacy residents. Forty-six learners (94%) agreed or strongly agreed that they plan to apply what they learned from participating in the activity to patient counseling. Forty-three learners (88%) found that achieving and maintaining adherence was difficult or extremely difficult. The average ITAS score was 5.9 out of 12 which correlates to poor adherence. The most common barriers encountered in achieving medication adherence were frequency of doses, lifestyle, motivation and tablet burden. Strategies that were most frequently utilized to improve or maintain adherence were strategic placement of the pillbox, development of routine, dosing alarms, and assistance of friend/family member.

*Conclusions: Pharmacy learners gained personal experience in identifying barriers to achieving medication adherence and developing strategies to overcome these barriers. Multiple learners described the experience as “eye opening” in the open-ended portion of the survey. Overall, pharmacy learners report a positive experience with the adherence activity and will apply the skills they learned to improve patient counseling.

« Back to 2022 American Transplant Congress