{
  "abstract": "Introduction Medication-related problems (MRPs) are common among older adults. The global population is ageing and there are health-related challenges linked to ageing in rural areas. Home-living rural older adults often face barriers to access healthcare, like long distances to healthcare services and poor continuity of care. Telepharmacy is the remote provision of pharmaceutical care, and telepharmacy could be of particular importance for rural older adults to improve their access to clinical pharmacy services and reduce the incidence of MRPs. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate a novel telepharmacy service in primary care for home-living older adults in Northern Sweden’s rural areas. The primary objective is to evaluate the effect of the telepharmacy service regarding the identification, classification and resolution of MRPs.Methods and analysis This study will be conducted as a single-arm interventional study. A total of 100 people ≥65 years will receive the telepharmacy service for 12 weeks. The key principles of the telepharmacy service are to perform medication interviews and follow-up meetings with study participants, to conduct structured medication reviews, to conduct regular electronic medical record reviews and to have interprofessional collaboration with primary care physicians. All meetings will be conducted through video conferencing via a secure virtual care platform. Identified MRPs will be classified, and the acceptance rate of the pharmacists’ recommendations will be evaluated. The results will be presented with descriptive statistics. As secondary objectives, intra-individual changes in participants’ medication adherence, health-related quality of life and beliefs about medicines will be assessed through self-report questionnaires. Statistical analysis will be conducted using two-sided McNemar’s tests. Semi-structured interviews will also be conducted to explore participants’ and healthcare professionals’ experiences and attitudes towards this telepharmacy service.Ethics and dissemination This study has been granted ethical approval by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (registration number 2022-03819-01 and 2024-08441-02). Participant informed consent is required. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific conferences.Trial registration number NCT05629936.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Annica Westberg"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Pernilla Andersson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Eva Sönnerstam"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Sofia Mattsson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden",
        "The Centre for Rural Health, Region Västerbotten, Storuman, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Åsa Holmner"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Centre for Rural Health, Region Västerbotten, Storuman, Västerbotten County, Sweden",
        "Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Anette Edin-Liljegren"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Maria Gustafsson"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Development and evaluation of a telepharmacy service in primary care for home-living older adults in Northern Sweden’s rural areas: protocol for a single-arm interventional study",
  "uid": "0ada1a98-4b57-5e24-bbbb-ea5b6117e7cc"
}