BACKGROUND: The value of counseling in community pharmacy depends on its ability to help patients improve their use of medicine and thereby health status, by their adherence to recommendations. Studies showing how patients respond to daily pharmacy counseling are, however, scarce. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate how patients respond to medical advice given by pharmacy staff.

METHODS: A heterogeneous sample of patients who received the 'Inhaler Technique Assessment Service' (ITAS) in Denmark were interviewed, using a semi-structured schedule. Meaning condensation and theoretical analysis were conducted.

RESULTS: Twenty-two patients who had received the ITAS were included in the analysis. Participants found recommendations about optimal inhalation technique meaningful and accepted these without questioning. This contrasted how they accepted advice toward their medicines, in general. Participants experienced various difficulties when trying to adhere with ITAS recommendations at home. Participants who used inhalers for a long time did not feel an improvement in disease symptoms due to having improved their inhalation technique; however, they still continued to inhale the way proposed by pharmacy staff.

CONCLUSIONS: ITAS recommendations seemed important to adhere with for patients despite experiencing difficulties when doing so and secondly not feeling an immediate improvement of health. Reasons for this appear to be connected with the concept of meaningfulness. Hence, this aspect should be investigated further, as this could help staff providing adequate counseling to patients. Further, pharmacy staff should focus more on supporting patients implementing their health advice at home.