Featured Scholar: Rebecca J. Bartlett Ellis, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC
Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs
Associate Professor, Science of Nursing Care
Management of Medications and Adherence in People with Multiple Chronic Conditions
Taking medications as prescribed is challenging and remains a considerable barrier to people with chronic conditions realizing the full health benefits of prescribed treatments. Not adhering to a prescribed medication regimen involves missing doses, taking medications too early or late, or missing several days' doses. Many reasons can explain this nonadherence, but not developing reliable routine habits that ensure medications are taken and at the right time(taking and timing adherence) remains a significant barrier. Even minor deviations in dosing adherence can affect patient outcomes and may lead to erroneous conclusions about treatment efficacy, thus precipitating potentially unnecessary prescription changes (e.g. dose escalation, addition of medications, switching medications).
Dr. Rebecca Bartlett Ellis and her transdisciplinary team have developed a smart pillbox, known as InterACT Pillbox (patent pending), with embedded sensors that track medication-taking behaviors and provide feedback directly to users via their smart phone. The novelty of InterACT Pillbox lies in the integration of technology with widely used traditional pillboxes to provide continuous feedback to patients on how well they are taking medications as prescribed. InterACT Pillbox was co-designed with input from patients and is being used in intervention work to improve medication taking.
Dr. Ellis's work to improve patient medication taking is another example of how IU Indianapolis faculty are TRANSLATING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.
Selected Publications in IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks
With several research works contributed to IU Indianapolis's free, open access repository, Dr. Ellis has made translational research knowledge available to professionals, researchers, students, and communities around the world.
Bartlett Ellis, R. J., & Welch, J. L. (2017). Medication-taking behaviours in chronic kidney disease with multiple chronic conditions: a meta-ethnographic synthesis of qualitative studies. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(5–6), 586–598. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/13610
Ellis, R. J. B., Bakoyannis, G., Haase, J. E., Boyer, K., & Carpenter, J. S. (2016). Patient Perceptions of Provider and Hospital Factors Associated With New Medication Communication. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 38(9), 1139-1154. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10657
Bartlett Ellis, R. J., Embree, J. L., & Ellis, K. G. (2015). A Business Case Framework for Planning Clinical Nurse Specialist-Led Interventions. Clinical Nurse Specialist CNS, 29(6), 338–347. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10578
Bartlett Ellis, R. J., Carmon, A. F., & Pike, C. (2016). A review of immediacy and implications for provider–patient relationships to support medication management. Patient Preference and Adherence, 10, 9–18. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/9812
Bartlett Ellis, R. J., Connor, U., & Marshall, J. (2014). Development of patient-centric linguistically tailored psychoeducational messages to support nutrition and medication self-management in type 2 diabetes: a feasibility study. Patient Preference and Adherence, 8, 1399–1408. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/7068