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The MultimorbiditY COllaborative Medication Review And DEcision Making (MyComrade) study: a protocol for a cross-border pilot cluster randomised controlled trial

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posted on 2022-11-24, 16:22 authored by Lisa Hynes, Andrew W Murphy, Nigel Hart, Collette Kirwan, Sarah Mulligan, Claire Leathem, Laura McQuillan, Marina Maxwell, Emma Carr, Scott Walkin, Caroline MccarthyCaroline Mccarthy, Colin Bradley, Molly Byrne, Susan SmithSusan Smith, Carmel Hughes, Maura Corry, Patricia M Kearney, Geraldine McCarthy, Margaret Cupples, Paddy Gillespie, John Newell, Liam Glynn, Alberto Alvarez-Iglesias, Carol Sinnott

Background: While international guidelines recommend medication reviews as part of the management of multimorbidity, evidence on how to implement reviews in practice in primary care is lacking. The MultimorbiditY Collaborative Medication Review And Decision Making (MyComrade) intervention is an evidence-based, theoretically informed novel intervention which aims to support the conduct of medication reviews for patients with multimorbidity in primary care. Our aim in this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility of a trial of the intervention with unique modifications accounting for contextual variations in two neighbouring health systems (Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI)).

Methods: A pilot cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted, using a mixed-methods process evaluation to investigate the feasibility of a trial of the MyComrade intervention based on pre-defined progression criteria. A total of 16 practices will be recruited (eight in ROI; eight in NI), and four practices in each jurisdiction will be randomly allocated to intervention or control. Twenty people living with multimorbidity and prescribed ≥ 10 repeat medications will be recruited from each practice prior to practice randomisation. In intervention practices, the MyComrade intervention will be delivered by pairs of general practitioners (GPs) in ROI, and a GP and practice-based pharmacist (PBP) in NI. The GPs/GP and PBP will schedule the time to review the medications together using a checklist. Usual care will proceed in practices in the control arm. Data will be collected via electronic health records and postal questionnaires at recruitment and 4 and 8 months after randomisation. Qualitative interviews to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and explore experiences related to multimorbidity management will be conducted with a purposive sample of GPs, PBPs, practice administration staff and patients in intervention and control practices. The feasibility of conducting a health economic evaluation as part of a future definitive trial will be assessed.

Discussion: The findings of this pilot study will assess the feasibility of a trial of the MyComrade intervention in two different health systems. Evaluation of the progression criteria will guide the decision to progress to a definitive trial and inform trial design. The findings will also contribute to the growing evidence-base related to intervention development and feasibility studies.

Trial registration: ISRCTN Registry, ISRCTN80017020 . Date of confirmation is 4/11/2019.

Funding

HSC R&D Division Cross-border Healthcare Intervention Trials in Ireland Network (CHITIN), UK and Ireland.

History

Comments

The original article is available at https://pilotfeasibilitystudies.biomedcentral.com/

Published Citation

Hynes L. et al. The MultimorbiditY COllaborative Medication Review And DEcision Making (MyComrade) study: a protocol for a cross-border pilot cluster randomised controlled trial. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2022;8(1):73

Publication Date

28 March 2022

PubMed ID

35346380

Department/Unit

  • HRB Centre for Primary Care Research
  • General Practice

Publisher

BioMed Central

Version

  • Published Version (Version of Record)