Using the patient activation measure during a pharmacist-led rural patient home visit pilot project

Abstract

Background: Many pharmacists use motivational interviewing as a tool to inspire patients to engage in managing their health. Assessing patient engagement and willingness to actively participate in chronic disease management is a necessary component in improving activation and health outcomes. The patient activation measure (PAM) is a validated assessment tool used to give providers insight into a patient's level of confidence, knowledge, and skills in self-managing their health. In 2017, 2 pharmacists conducted patient home visits using care coordinators to identify patients who would benefit from pharmacist intervention. The PAM-13 was integrated into the pharmacist-led home visits to collect information on patient activation and engagement in addressing their own health problems.

Objectives: To describe the implementation of the PAM-13 in pharmacist-led patient home visits and to analyze the collected patient PAM-13 scores and levels to determine whether change occurred after meeting with a pharmacist.

Methods: The PAM was used as part of a pilot program involving pharmacist-led patient home visits to assess drug-related problems within a cohort of high-risk rural patients with uncontrolled chronic conditions.

Results: During this 6-month study, PAM-13 scores decreased in 3 patients, increased in 9 patients, and did not change in 2 patients whereas PAM-13 levels decreased in 2 patients, increased in 7 patients, and did not change for 5 patients.

Conclusion: PAM-13 was used as part of a pilot program involving pharmacist-led patient home visits with a cohort of high-risk rural patients with uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes. PAM-13 is a useful tool that could help pharmacists provide targeted motivational interviewing and medication management by assessing and improving patient activation and engagement.