Journal of Health Science and Medical Research (JHSMR) (Jun 2008)
The effects of pharmaceutical care provision on patients with acute coronary syndromes and
Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the effects of pharmaceutical care provision on patients admitted to Patthalung Hospital who had acute coronary syndromes and hypercholesterolemia. The outcomes that were measured included the evaluation of the use of a statin, a patient's compliance to the medication, patient's quality of life, patient's knowledge of both the drug therapy and disease, and patient's follow-up visit before schedule. Material and Methods: This was a quasi experimental study of the patients in the pre-intervention phase who were admitted to the hospital between April and October 2004 and patients who were in the post-intervention phase who were admitted between November 2004 and March 2005. There were 20 patients in each group. The patients in the pre-intervention phase were matched with the patients in the post-intervention phase in the ratio of 1:1. The patients in the pre-intervention phase received the usual recommended care and the pharmacists did a retrospective review of statin use. The patients in the post-intervention phase received pharmaceutical care in which a pharmacist counseled the patients on both the drug therapy and the disease and at the same time the pharmacists also evaluated the practice of prescribing statin by physician. The patients in the postintervention phase were scheduled for three consecutive follow up visits with an interval of one month. Data was collected during the hospital stay and also in the out patient department. Results: After discharge, it was found that, of those patients who attended follow up visits more than once, there were fewer patients in the pre-intervention phase than there were in the post-intervention phase (45%, 45%) and (100%,100%) respectively (p 0.05). Conclusion: This study has shown that the involvement of pharmaceutical care of acute coronary syndrome patients with elevated cholesterol was beneficial. Involvement improved patients' compliance with statin therapy and the monitoring for lipid profiles. The proportion of patients who achieved the LDL-C target goal increased as did their knowledge of the drug therapy and the disease along with an increased quality of life.
