ABC Project's publications update
'Publications' section of ABC Project's web site has been updated with all papers published so far. Including the most recent by Wendy Clyne et al. entitled 'A multinational cross-sectional survey of the management of patient medication adherence by European healthcare professionals.' To see the full list of ABC Project's publications click here.
New ABC Project publication
A new paper by ABC Project team has been published. An article by Wendy Clyne and Sarah McLachlan entitled 'A mixed-methods study of the implementation of medication adherence policy solutions: how do European countries compare?' is available online as an open access full text article. It can be downloaded here.
ABC Project paper crossed 100-citations
The paper entitled "A new taxonomy for describing and defining adherence to medications" by Bernard Vrijens et al. of ABC Project Team has crossed the 100-citations ‘mark’. It is now (February 12th, 2015) at 103 citations according to Google Scholar. It is an indication of strong ratification of the impact of the work which ABC Project Team has put into the preparation of the paper and its publication.
ABC Project on Horizon 2020 web site
An information about ABC Project was published on Horizon 2020 web site. It may be found here.
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. More information can be found here.
ABC presentation on ESCP conference
Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas, Scientific Manager of ABC Project, presented main results of the Project during 42nd Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy, which took place in Prague on 16-18 October 2013. The event was organised by European Society of Clinical Pharmacy. His presentation entitled "Phenomenon of medication noncompliance - experiences from the multicentric EU projects" has been recorded and is available online here. The list of presenters with their recordings may be accessed under this link.
ABC publication in Pharmacy Education
Another publication by ABC Project team has been published. Simon White, Wendy Clyne and Comfort Mshelia have prepared a paper about "An educational framework for managing and supporting medication adherence in Europe". It has been recently published in Pharmacy Education and is available online on journal's website after free registration.
New ABC publication in Frontiers in Pharmaceutical Medicine and Outcomes Research
We are pleased to announce a new publication of ABC Project team. The article entitled 'Determinants of patient adherence: a review of systematic reviews' by Przemyslaw Kardas, Pawel Lewek and Michal Matyjaszczyk was published on 25th of July 2013 in Frontiers in Pharmaceutical Medicine and Outcomes Research. The full text is available free of charge here
European Commission's conference on adherence
European Commission has organised an international Conference "Adherence to medical plans in old age, a public health concern at EU level". During plenary session Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas, presented a lecture on "Adherence in different diseases and situations", in which he summarised current state of the art in adherence field, and provided several findings of ABC Project to illustrate prevalence, and consequences of non-adherence.
The event was a part of European Commission's initiative: the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing which aims to improve the health and quality of life of older people, support the sustainability of health and social care systems and boost EU industry competitiveness.
The Conference brought together key policy makers and public health specialists and its main goal was to develop the Action Plan on adherence to treatment of elderlies. According to Mr Martin Seychell, Deputy Director General for Consumers and Health at DG SANCO, European Commission, by no questions the problem of non-adherence with medication will be within the scope of the upcoming Horizon 2020 programme.
New ABC publication in Drugs
An article entitled "Identification and Assessment of Adherence-Enhancing Interventions in Studies Assessing Medication Adherence Through Electronically Compiled Drug Dosing Histories: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis" has been published in 'Drugs'. The manuscript by Jenny Demonceau and other ABC Project members is available online on journal's web site under this link.
New ABC publication in BMC Health Services Research
A new publication by ABC Project team members: Wendy Clyne, Simon White and Sarah McLachlan has been published. The manuscript entitled "Developing consensus-based policy solutions for medicines adherence for Europe: a delphi study" is available on BMC Health Services Reaserch website. The article presents method with which consensus-based actions necessary to address non-adherence to medicines have been developed for Europe.
"Education Framework" available on iBookstore
'The Educational Framework for Health Professionals in Europe for Managing and Supporting Medication Adherence' is now available for iPad users. The publication may be downloaded free of charge by visiting the iBookstore on your iPad. The framework comprises several parts: a competency framework describing the skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviours of healthcare professionals that can support patients with medication; a curriculum for educational organisations to guide education and training for healthcare professionals in their work with patients and their medication; and a diagnostic tool that can be used both by healthcare professionals to reflect on their practice against specific criteria and by educational organisations to assess their curricula against the competencies that healthcare professionals need to support patients with medication and medication taking.
ABC Project in EU Research magazine
The Autumn issue of 'EU Research' magazine features an article about adherence and ABC Project by Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas, Scientific Manager of the Project. You can download the article here or read the full magazine for free by visiting this site.
ABC results presentation during WONCA 2012 Conference
On 6th of July 2012, the final results of the ABC Project were presented by Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas during WONCA Europe 2012 conference. WONCA is an abbreviation for World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians. WONCA Europe is a yearly event gathering European primary care doctors. The lecture was entitled ‘Policy recommendations for improved medication adherence in Europe: the ABC project results’ and provided an overview of information published in recent ABC Project's final report (see previous news). www.woncaeurope2012.org
ABC Project Final Report
Deliverable 7.1 - The Final Report of ABC Project has been published. It is a summary of research designed and conducted by the ABC Project team. Please download it by clicking here.
ABC Project final meeting
The final ABC Project Consortium Meeting was held on June 1st 2012 in Amsterdam. Organised by members from Keele University, the meeting gathered 7 representatives of Project’s Partners. The event was devoted mainly to closing agreements on ABC Project Final report. Project Partners decided about contents of particular chapters and proposed schedule of publication of Final Report and Deliverables. Key financial issues were also discussed.
New ABC Project team publication
It is our pleasure to announce that a new article of ABC Project team is available. "A new taxonomy for describing and defining adherence to medications" by Bernard Vrijens et al. has been published in British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. For an abstract and full text please visit the publisher's web site.
European Forum on Patient Adherence to Medication, Brussels, 8th December 2011
Download the official Press Release
ABC Project results were presented in European Parliament on 8th of December 2011 during The European Forum on Patient Adherence to Medication. The conference was granted a patronage of European Parliament, Polish Presidency of the Council of European Union and patronage of Jacek Saryusz-Wolski Member of European Parliament. Nearly 100 participants took part in the conference, with European policymakers, academics, insurance companies’ representatives, health professionals, patients’ organizations representatives, journalists and other stakeholders among them. Some of findings of the ABC Project are:
- the term “adherence” is advised to describe doctor-patient relation in medication taking
- there is no correlation between adherence to long-term and short-term treatments
- determinants of adherence differ by country
- electronic monitoring feedback showed a significant improvement in adherence outcomes
- treatment benefit, dose frequency, mild adverse events, potentially life-threatening but rare adverse events are drug attributes which influence patients’ stated preferences to continue treatment
- adherence should be included in curricula for all healthcare professionals, especially doctors, nurses, and pharmacists
For more results please see the official ABC Project presentation.
Presentation of ABC final results at the European Forum on Patient Adherence to Medication, Brussels, 8th December 2011
With a view to promotion and practical implementation of the ABC final results, the ABC Project Consortium organised a meeting on the 8th of December 2011 in Brussels, called the European Forum on Patient Adherence to Medication.
The results of the ABC Project, including the strategy for enhancing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health systems in Europe due to improving patient adherence to medication were presented and discussed during the Forum. More information will be available soon.
Download the official Press Release
Download meeting agenda in Special Issue of ABC Project's Newsletter
ABC Project's first publication
We are delighted to announce that the first ABC Project article entitled
Management of patient adherence to medications: protocol for an online survey of doctors, pharmacists and nurses in Europe
has been published by BMJ Open.
The file can be accessed here or downloaded directly from here.
New ABC Newsletter available
ABC Project Newsletter 2&3/2011 is available now for download here
Better adherence to improve healthcare systems
A briefing of healthcare experts entitled “Improving sustainability of healthcare systems through better adherence to therapies: a multi-stakeholder approach” was held in the European Parliament in Brussels on 21st of December 2011. The event was organized by Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), The European Patients’ Forum (EPF) and The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), and hosted by Mrs Linda McAvan MEP, Mr Cristian Silviu Buşoi MEP, and Mr Christofer Fjellner MEP.
The meeting was opened by the introductory presentation of ABC Project Scientific Manager Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas of the First Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Lodz.
– Adherence to treatment is beneficial not only for patients, but also for doctors – said prof.Kardas – Healthy patient means less visits, which leads to savings for primary care doctor, and simpler treatment regimen. If patient lies his doctor that he takes medicines according to doctor the advice, it makes the doctor helpless in case of side effects and lack of treatment results – continued Prof. Kardas.
Prof. Kardas interview on adherence statistics and consequences.
Facts and figures on non-adherence
Prof.Przemyslaw Kardas, Scientific Manager of ABC Project, will present a lecture entitled "Facts and figures on non-adherence" in European Parliament this month. An event "Improving the sustainability of healthcare systems through better adherence to therapies: a multi-stakeholder approach" is organised by: The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union, The European Patients' Forum, The Standing Committee of European Doctors and The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. It will be an important platform of communication between patients, doctors and pharmacists. The event will take place on 21st of September 2011 in Brussels, Belgium.
ABC Project on WONCA Europe 2011 Conference
The aims and objectives of ABC Project were introduced to participants of the 17th WONCA Europe conference on 10th of September 2011 in Warsaw, Poland by prof.Przemyslaw Kardas. Scientific Manager of ABC Project also presented a lecture entitled "Medication adherence as the precondition for continuity of care: in-depth insight into patients’ perspective on the grounds of European survey". WONCA is an acronym for the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians. WONCA Europe is one of the 6 sub-organizations of WONCA World and includes all European countries and represents more than 45.000 family physicians in Europe.
Work Package 7 Update
On 23rd June 2011 the ABC lead for WP7, NPC Plus Keele University, hosted the ABC London consensus meeting at the Royal Society. Experts in medication adherence from 10 countries took part in the meeting to discuss policy recommendations for adherence for Europe. Representatives from academia, patient organisations, healthcare professionals, policy makers and the pharmaceutical industry participated in the meeting.
The meeting was opened by Dr Keith Ridge, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for the Department of Health, England. The starting point for discussion was the policy solutions that emerged from the Delphi study conducted for WP7. The meeting gave participants the chance to discuss the results of the Delphi study, consider how the proposed policy solutions might fit together, and the balance and prioritisation of the policy options. The ABC team at Keele are currently busy collating all the information and discussion generated by the consensus meeting.
A key principle of WP7 is the development of policy recommendations that are not only informed by evidence, but are politically and operationally feasible. For the next stage of WP7, the Keele team plan a national self-assessment study, and invite national officials of EU member states who have medicines policy within their brief to describe the extent to which the policy solutions have been implemented in their country and whether they have any plans to do so in the future.
The results of this study, and the final ABC policy recommendations for medication adherence, will be discussed at the European Forum on Patient Adherence to Medication, Brussels, 8th December 2011
After ABC Expert Meeting in London
On 23rd of June 2011 a panel of European experts discussed policy recommendations for Europe on medicines adherence. The meeting was held at The Royal Society in London as a part of ABC Project’s Work Package 7 entitled “Preparation of policy recommendation for promoting patient compliance in European healthcare”. It gathered stakeholders from 10 countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and USA.
The expert group comprised academics, healthcare commissioners, policy makers, healthcare professionals, healthcare industry representatives, and patients and carers organisations. The results of the meeting will be recommendations on what to do in order to improve medication adherence in Europe. At the moment the data gathered from experts during the meeting is being analyzed. A short summary of the results will be published on ABC Project’s web site in next few weeks.
On July 1st 2011 Poland has taken over the European Union Presidency. On this very occasion we are proud to announce that ABC Project’s meeting on policy recommendation for promoting patient adherence in European healthcare received a Patronage of Polish EU Presidency. The event will take place in European Parliament on December 8th, 2011 and will sum up the findings of ABC Project.
ABC Expert Meeting, London, 23rd June 2011
The ABC Project is organising an Expert Meeting due to take place on 23rd June 2011. The meeting will be held at the Royal Society, London, and will involve stakeholders from patient and carers organisations, healthcare professionals, healthcare commissioners and policymakers and the pharmaceutical industry.
The major goal of the meeting is to reach consensus on the range of policy solutions that could be implemented to support patients with medication taking. The results of the meeting will be used to help formulate the ABC final recommendations for health policy makers in Europe. Partner 5, NPC Plus, Keele University, is hosting the meeting. If you have any enquiries about the meeting please contact Katie Edwards, NPC Plus administrator: k.l.edwards-at-mema.keele.ac.uk
A new ABC Project Newsletter No. 1/2011 has been published. It can be downloaded here.
A Work Package 2 survey has been started in several languages. The aim of this survey is to find determinants of adherence. Especially prepared questionnaire including Direct Choice Experiment was uploaded to Survey Monkey server. Participants – patients suffering from hypertension - will be recruited via posters, patients’ portals and ABC Project web site. A link leading to the survey will be placed on ABC’s site welcome screens proper for each participating country. Patients with hypertension willing to fill in the survey may access it from ABC Project home site choosing proper language.
A fifth ABC Project Consortium Meeting was held in Bangor, UK with the presence of all ABC Project Partners. The main issues of ABC Project discussed on the meeting were as follows. Results of Work Package 2, which deals with determinants of non-adherence were reported. Especially prepared survey aimed at patients suffering from hypertension will be uploaded to Survey Monkey server and provided to the patients. A final deliverable time was extended to December 2011.
A Work Package 4 leader Katholieke Universiteit Leuven presented a list of additional countries, where the survey on Practices of compliance management by the healthcare workers would be conducted. Apart from Consortium countries (Poland, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Belgium) also Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, and possibly the Netherlands and France will take part in the survey. The data from doctors, nurses and pharmacists should be collected by the end of September 2011.
The two papers based on Work Package 1 findings dealing with methodology of the literature review and adherence taxonomy will be submitted to two leading medical journals. A review of adherence enhancing interventions (Work Package 5) will be prepared by the end of March. A total number of 14 ABC Project publications is planned.
Experts’ opinions to the policy recommendations will be collected for Work Package 7 with the Delphi method. The meeting of relevant stakeholders was scheduled at the Royal Society of London on 23rd of June 2011 in order to present the findings of this experiment.
The 14th European Symposium on Patient COMpliance, Adherence, and Persistence ESPACOMP 2010 was held in Lodz,
Poland on September 17th-18th, 2010. It was a great opportunity for scientists from diffrenet continents to
exchange ideas and results of their work in the field of adherence. On behalf of ABC Project team,
Bernard Vrijens presented "A simple, robust taxonomy to describe deviations from prescribed drug therapy",
and Przemyslaw Kardas presented results of systematic review of determinants of patient adherence to medical treatment.
For more information, click here.
A new ABC Project Newsletter has been published. It can be downloaded here.
ABC Project’s Dissemination Manager participated in European Science Communication Network Workshops from 19th to 24th of July 2010. The aim of the workshops was to improve scientists’ skills in communication with and through mass media. The workshop targeted scientists and researchers involved with FP6 and/or FP7 funded research projects. For more information visit: http://www.esconet.org
Since July 1st 2010 Partner 3 (University of Aberdeen) has withdrawn from the ABC Project. The Work Packages belonging to the Partner were agreed to be distributed among other Partners mainly to the Partner 5 (Keele University), thus the Project will be continued smoothly.
The fourth ABC project consortium meeting was held in Leuven, Belgium on June 25 and 26, 2010. Many important topics concerning the project were discussed among which a new taxonomy in the field of patient medication management were proposed. After several rounds of discussion and fine-tuning of definitions with the consortium partners and experts in the field, the consensus taxonomy was planned to be published in one of the major medical journals. As a result of work done within Work Package 1 this new taxonomy will represent a conceptual blueprint to guide future adherence research.
The work on survey about determinants of patient adherence within Work Package 2 is being continued. The survey will be conducted in 6 European countries after positive decision of Polish Ethical Commission is obtained, with the option to extend the number of countries up to 16.
During the meeting final report of Work Package 3 on conceptual framework for the determinants of non-adherence has been presented. Partners discussed also about the survey on adherence management by healthcare professionals, which will be conducted in 16 European countries among doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Topics related to other Work Packages were discussed as well.
ABC Project was presented during 3rd European Generic medicines Association (EGA) Symposium on Bioequivalence which was held in London on June 1st, 2010. The meeting was dedicated to the revised European Medicines Agency Bioequivalence guideline. Every participant received an ABC Project leaflet and heard the announcement about the Project presented by one of the organizers. Participants were also encouraged to take part in ABC Project Work Package 4 survey (identification of methods used by pharmaceutical industry to promote patient adherence), which preliminary results were presented in Zurich during EyeForPharma 2010 conference devoted to adherence.
The ABC Project survey on Pharmaceutical Industry Initiatives to Support Medication Adherence has started.
This survey is being conducted as a part of Work Package 4. Its goal is to develop an inventory of methods
used by the pharmaceutical industry to promote patient adherence to medications. The survey will be conducted
among members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and the European
Generic Medicines Association (EGA) members, with the means of web-enabled system. Currently, the pilot version
of the survey has been made available. The results of this pilot will be discussed at Eyeforpharma’s 7th Annual
Patient Adherence & Relationship Marketing Summit in Zurich, 16-17 June, 2010. For more information, please
visit http://www.eyeforpharma.com/
Todd Ruppar, an ABC Project member, received an award during the European Society of Cardiology’s Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions’ Spring Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. The 2nd place for the best moderated poster abstract was given to his presentation entitled "A New Taxonomy for Medication Adherence and Compliance".
On 21st and 22nd of January 2010 a 3rd ABC Project Consortium Meeting was held in Sion,
Switzerland hosted by one of the Project Partners - Pharmionic Systems Ltd. The meeting was
devoted to coordination and organisation of work.
Partners discussed about the survey which will be used
to seek for the determinants of non-adherence, methods of survey participants recruitment and coordination
of ethic committee approval within EU countries. Also final agreement on taxonomy and terminology of patient
compliance was reached. Partners exchanged their opinions on interventions review (Work Package 5) and compliance
management (Work Package 4). The meeting ended with an invitation to an upcoming ESPACOMP 2010 conference which will be held in Lodz,
Poland on 17-18th of September 2010.
On the second day of the 13th annual ESPACOMP meeting , ABC Project group coordinated
the "European consensus meeting on the taxonomy and terminology of patient compliance".
A proposal for a sound taxonomy/terminology in the field of patient adherence was introduced and generated many
fruitful interactions between the participants. To broaden this discussion to a larger public we decided to use a wiki-type
collaborative platform and posted the proposal at the following web address: http://wiki.espacomp.eu/.
Please sign-up on this platform and share some of your thoughts and opinions on this important topic with the wider public interested in patient adherence.
The 13th edition of the European Symposium on Patient Adherence, COMpliance, and Persistence – ESPACOMP 2009 - was held on the 10th-11th September 2009 at the Bangor University, Wales, UK. Over 100 researchers, medical professionals and pharmaceutical industry representatives participated in the event, which was also the official launch of newly created European Society on Patient Adherence, COMpliance, and Persistence.
The meeting was opened by the welcome and introduction by Dyfrig Hughes from Bangor University, hosting this year’s event, followed the speech by John Urquhart in commemoration of Dr. Jean-Michel Métry, CEO and Chairman of Aardex Group, whose sudden passing away a week before filled all his friends and fellow researchers with great sadness.
On 11th September 2009 the ABC project coordinated the European consensus meeting on taxonomy and terminology of patient compliance. Bernard Vrijens for Pharmionics Ltd. presented the draft ABC proposal on taxonomy and terminology used in the field of deviations from recommended treatment in ambulatory pharmacotherapy.
Jeffrey Aronson from the University of Oxford, UK, a renowned expert in medical language, carried out a linguistic analysis of the proposed draft terminology and taxonomy and coordinated the interactive session designed to obtain feedback from the participants. The session was highly informative for the ABC project researchers.
As a next step, the ESPACOMP members and relevant stakeholders will be invited to further interactive web-based discussions. The European consensus on taxonomy and terminology used in the field of patient deviations from recommended treatment is expected to be reached by the end of the year (ABC WP1 Objective). Relevant publication will be submitted to one of the leading medical journals.
For more information on ESPACOMP meetings please visit: http://www.espacomp.eu/meetings/viewall
On 11th September the ABC Working Meeting took place at Bangor University, Wales, UK to discuss the scientific and technical details of current and future research (WP1,2,3,4).
On 17th September 2009 during 15th WONCA Conference in Basel, Switzerland, a workshop titled “How can a busy physician help patients take prescribed medicines correctly?” took place. It was conducted by two ABC Project members: Ass. Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas MD, PhD and Dr Bernard Vrijens, PhD who presented major issues related to compliance. Words of the presenters were pictured by humorous scenes representing situations from family doctor’s practice. Please revisit ABC Project web-site soon to see video relation from this event.
WONCA 2009
The ABC Project 1st Periodic Meeting was held on Univeristy of Aberdeen, UK on 25th-26th of June 2009.
February, 2009
Medical University of Lodz won a prize for "Lodz of Success"
ABC Project was chosen the most important event in Lodz by "Gazeta Wyborcza" readers, TV Toya viewers and Radio Eska audience.
January 9, 2009
The ABC Project Kick Off meeting was held on 9th of January 2009 in Medial University of Lodz, Poland. The event was opened by Prof. Pawel Gorski, Rector of Medical University of Lodz, who presented the history and current state of the University.
Afterwards the press conference began which was hosted by Ass. Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas MD, PhD Director of The First Department of Family Medicine of Medical University of Lodz and a main coordinator of the ABC Project.
Project Partners were represented by Valerie Morrison MA, PhD and Emily Fargher of Bangor University (United Kingdom), Wendy Clyne of Keele Univeristy (United Kingdom), Fabienne Dobbels PhD of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Ian Gould of Aberdeen University (United Kingdom) and Bernard Vrijens PhD of Pharmionic Systems (Switzerland). All invited guests were answering questions of media representatives. After the press conference Project Partners attended an administrative part of the meeting. Numbers questions were asked by TV and press representatives to all Project partners, as well as invited guests (these include Roman Danielewicz MD, PhD, Director of the Department of Science and Higher Education of Polish Ministry of Health, Anita Kucharska from European Commission, Anna Pytko BA and Ewa Szkiladz PhD from National Contact Point).
The Kick Off meeting was a great success. With a great interest of media, it rose the awareness of the ABC Project objectives in both academia and society.
January 2, 2009
ABC Project Kick off Meeting will take place on 9th January 2009 in Lodz, Poland. Meeting Venue: Senate Room at the Rector’s Office, Medical University of Lodz, 4 Al. Kosciuszki, Lodz, Poland.
Abridged agendaOfficial opening of the ABC Project Kick off Meeting and Partner Introductions
Expected guests:
- Prof. Pawel GORSKI, Rector of the Medical University of Lodz
- Assoc. Prof. Roman Danielewicz, Ministry of Health, Warsaw
- Anita Kucharska, European Commission, Brussels
- Anna Pytko, BA National Contact Point, Warsaw
- Ewa Szkiladz, PHD National Contact Point, Warsaw
- Mr Wlodzimierz Fisiak, Marshal of the Lodz Voivodship, Lodz
Press Conference
Kick Off Meeting (for Project Partners only)
