Project 460798

It is estimated that approximately a third of patients do not take their medications as prescribed following a heart attack. This causes a significant burden among patients, healthcare providers, and health systems. In the past 60 years, there have been hundreds of studies done across the world but no clear solutions on how to improve medication-taking have come to light. The general lack of success among these studies raises several questions. Are the right people supporting patients in the best way? What is the best way to motivate patients to take their medications? Are we targeting the most important aspects of medication-taking? What is the best way to form medication-taking habits? Fortunately, emerging ideas from behavioural and implementation science provide an opportunity to answer some of these questions. Our proposed two-day meeting will bring together key national and international experts and stakeholders across a range of disciplines including cardiology, psychology, pharmacy, and implementation to discuss ways to improve medication-taking in heart attack patients. To our knowledge, this will be the first time ever that a meeting of this kind on this topic has been held in Canada. This meeting is therefore relevant, timely, and has the potential to improve the quality of care that patients receive after a heart attack in Canada.