UNLABELLED 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 of exacerbations. However, fewer than 50% of...

A randomized trial of a pharmacist-delivered intervention (PI) versus usual care (UC) was conducted; 689 subjects with known coronary heart disease were recruited from cardiac catheterization laboratories. Participants in the PI condition received 5 pharmacist-delivered telephone counseling calls post-hospital discharge. At one year, 65% in the PI condition and 60% in the UC condition achieved ...

BACKGROUND No randomised studies have addressed whether self-management for asthma can be successfully delivered by community pharmacists. Most randomised trials of asthma self-management have recruited participants from secondary care; there is uncertainty regarding its effectiveness in primary care. A randomised controlled study was undertaken to determine whether a community pharmacist could...

PURPOSE The frequency of medication errors in an emergency department (ED) before and after an ED pharmacist was assigned to check medication orders was studied. METHODS A retrospective chart review was conducted for any patient admitted to the ED of a large rural hospital between November 6, 2005, and December 6, 2005 (control group), or between November 6, 2006, and December 6, 2006 (interv...

PURPOSE Pharmacist interventions to enhance blood pressure (BP) control and adherence to antihypertensive therapy in adults with essential hypertension were reviewed. METHODS A literature search was conducted to identify relevant articles describing pharmacist interventions intended to improve adherence to antihypertensive medications. Studies were included if they described a pharmacist inte...

BACKGROUND Traditional systems of managing repeat prescribing have been criticised for their lack of clinical and administrative controls. AIM To compare a community pharmacist-managed repeat prescribing system with established methods of managing repeat prescribing. METHOD A randomised controlled intervention study (19 general medical practices, 3074 patients, 62 community pharmacists). Pa...

Methods We developed an AMS program, headed by a pharmacist and infectious diseases (ID) physician. Drug utilization reviews identified an expensive, broad-spectrum agent (piperacillin-tazobactam [P-T]) for initial targeting. An AMS form for listing clinical data and recommendations was developed. A daily list of patients receiving P-T was used to identify target patients for intervention. The ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a pharmacist-led medications review in primary care reduces the number of drugs and the number of drug-related problems. DESIGN Prospective randomized controlled trial. SETTING Liljeholmen Primary Care Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. SUBJECTS 209 patients aged ≥ 65 years with five or more different medications. Intervention. Patients answered a questionnaire rega...

RATIONALE Pharmacotherapy for patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is complex and increases the potential for drug therapy problems (DTPs). We described the frequency and type of DTPs in a Nigerian cohort of HIV infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART), as well as the changes in HIV clinical outcomes after pharmacists' intervention. METHODS A prospective 1-year d...

Education on optimal medication use is an essential strategy to improve asthma control. The current authors investigated whether pharmacist interventions, focused on appropriate use of asthma medication and tailor-made to the patient's current asthma control, would improve asthma control in adult patients. A 6-month randomised, controlled, parallel-group trial was conducted in 66 community phar...