gms | German Medical Science

The project PRIMA aims at implementing the medication plan in software applications of both participating physician and pharmacist. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) and performed in the Federal States of Saxony and Thuringia.

A pilot study on the readability and understandability of the medication plan has already been performed. 40 patients were questioned in semistructured interviews. Patients were asked to locate certain information on the plan and comment on their understanding of certain abbreviations and phrases used. Furthermore, they were asked to fill medicines in a pill box according to the dosing regimen on a given medication plan. As a result patients had problems understanding the abbreviations of the day time used in the dosing regimen. Therefore the medication plan within PRIMA was adapted.

The ongoing investigation is focussing on developing and implementing an electronic medication plan that is integrated in the software of both physicians and pharmacists. For preparing this medication plan we developed a comprehensive medication management concept based on an interdisciplinary approach (ARMIN, http://www.arzneimittelinitiative.de/). This includes an initial medication review followed by long-term monitoring of and care for patients by pharmacists and physicians. The practicability to generate and continuously update a comprehensive medication plan within this concept will be evaluated and both acceptance and feasibility by physicians, pharmacists and patients will be analyzed in PRIMA. This main investigation will include 100 patients.

Partners in this project are the ABDA – Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists (project manager), the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), the state associations of pharmacists and physicians in the two Federal States of Saxony and Thuringia, the Freie Universitaet Berlin and the AOK PLUS, a large statutory health insurance.