EmPhAsIS: Empowering Pharmacists in Asthma Management Through Interactive SMS

EmPhAsIS: Empowering Pharmacists in Asthma Management Through Interactive SMS

Between 8% and 12% of Canadians suffer from asthma. Although there are effective and inexpensive treatments, adherence to asthma treatment is amongst the lowest for all chronic diseases.The purpose of this study is to determine whether enhancing the role of community pharmacists in asthma management using interactive short messaging service (SMS) with asthma patients is a cost-effective model that will improve adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medications compared to usual care.

Inclusion Criteria:

• individuals who fill a (incident or prevalent) prescription for inhaled corticosteroids (either monotherapy or in combination inhaler with long-acting beta-agonists) who have been diagnosed by a doctor as having asthma
• possessing a cell-phone with ability to send/receive text messages
• residing in British Columbia (BC), Canada and planning to reside in BC for the next 12 months
• registered with the medical services plan (MSP, the provincial insure of medically-required services) in the past 12 months, and planning to remain registered for the next 12 months
• designated pharmacy being the main drugstore for patient
• not participating in another interventional study
• consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to communicate in English
• Under 14 years of age