Nurses' responses to patients' medication self‐management problems in hospital and the use of recommendations

Abstract

This study aimed to describe the use of recommendations as a guide for healthcare providers to support patients experiencing medication self‐management problems and to evaluate their feasibility, user‐friendliness and usefulness. Between March and August 2023, 58 hospitalized patients completed a self‐assessment on medication self‐management problems. The problems addressed in this self‐assessment were based on a list of frequently encountered medication self‐management problems from previous research. Consequently, 18 nurses responded to the reported problems using the recommendations. Nurses evaluated the feasibility, user‐friendliness and usefulness of these recommendations through a survey. A total of 217 medication self‐management problems were reported by 58 patients. Nurses intervened in 52% of the problems using the recommendations. According to nurses, the recommendations were user‐friendly and feasible but required a substantial time investment. Considering these pilot‐based results, the recommendations have the potential to be a valuable resource for nurses in practice, though this potential requires further exploration.