BACKGROUND Pharmacists may improve the clinical management of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. A systematic review was conducted to determine the impact of pharmacist care on the management of CVD risk factors among outpatients. METHODS The MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched for randomized controll...

BACKGROUND Integration of pharmacists into primary care general practice clinics has the potential to improve interdisciplinary teamwork and patient care; however this practice is not widespread. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to review the effectiveness of clinical pharmacist services delivered in primary care general practice clinics. METHODS A systematic review of English language r...

BACKGROUND Clinical practice recommendations from American Diabetes Association (ADA) include specific prevention goals intended to reduce the risk of diabetic complications. The Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) initiative, updated to Healthy People 2020, proposes similar objectives for improvement of clinical measures and outcomes in patients with diabetes. Clinical pharmacists are gaining an incr...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to determine the results of pharmacist interventions on patient's adherence to drugs in community settings. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The study was designed using a standard EQ-SDQ questionnaire and a Culig questionnaire about the adherence to drug. General Level Framework (GLF) was used as a tool for competence assessment among community pharmacists. Participan...

BACKGROUND Medication errors are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in primary care. The aims of this study are to determine the effectiveness, cost effectiveness and acceptability of a pharmacist-led information-technology-based complex intervention compared with simple feedback in reducing proportions of patients at risk from potentially hazardous prescribing and medicines manageme...

Background: Albumin is known as a human blood product, with high cost and limited availability. Several studies have demonstrated the extent in which albumin is being utilized in controversial indications not supported or weakly supported by the available literature. Objective: To rationalize the use of albumin and to decrease the inappropriate cost of this expensive drug. Methods: A two phase...

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are often nonadherent with medications and have poor inhaler technique. Community pharmacists can help to improve health-related quality of life and overall outcomes in patients with COPD. We aim to measure the effectiveness of a systematic, pharmacist-driven intervention on patients with diagnosed COPD. METHODS/DESIGN This...

BACKGROUND Multidisciplinary patient management including a clinical pharmacist shows an improvement in patient quality use of medicine. Implementation of a clinical pharmacy service represents a significant novel change in practice in Sri Lanka. Although attitudes of doctors and nurses are an important determinant of successful implementation, there is no Sri Lankan data about staff attitudes ...

www.pharmacypractice.org (ISSN: 1886-3655) 162 ABSTRACT The increasing number of patients affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and associated exacerbations has led to both rising hospital admissions and significant economic impact. Evidence-based guidelines have been formulated for COPD management recommending the use of low dose, oral corticosteroid therapy in the treatment...