None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
A previous intervention project saw patients with potentially suboptimal management of their asthma identified from their dispensed medication history – in particular, a high rate of provision of reliever compared with preventer medication for asthma. These patients were sent educational material from their community pharmacists and advised to seek a review of their asthma management from their general practitioner. The intervention resulted in a three-fold improvement in the management of asthma, measured by a significant shift towards more patients using preventer medications and relying less heavily on their reliever medications.1 There were also significant improvements in self-reported asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. This project is examining the long-term sustainability of the previously funded asthma intervention program by performing a 12-month follow-up and data analysis. If the effects of this low-cost, high-value intervention are sustained, it is envisaged that it will significantly impact on health policy in asthma management. If the effects are not sustained, further analysis of the data will be undertaken to determine frequency of the intervention required to gain sustained improvements. In addition, patients, community pharmacists and general practitioners will be invited to participate in qualitative face-to-face interviews to determine the perceived feasibility of the community pharmacy intervention on a national scale. Identification of key barriers and enables to the implementation of the intervention will lead to an improved process if necessary, with a higher level of satisfaction among the target population.
Interventions
A previous intervention study (not registered on a trials registry) saw patients with potentially suboptimal management of their asthma identified from their dispensed medication history – in particular, a high rate of provision of reliever compared with preventer medication for asthma. These patients were sent educational material from their community pharmacists and advised to seek a review of their asthma management from their general practitioner. The intervention resulted in a three-fold im
A previous intervention study (not registered on a trials registry) saw patients with potentially suboptimal management of their asthma identified from their dispensed medication history – in particular, a high rate of provision of reliever compared with preventer medication for asthma. These patients were sent educational material from their community pharmacists and advised to seek a review of their asthma management from their general practitioner. The intervention resulted in a three-fold improvement in the management of asthma, measured by a significant shift towards more patients using preventer medications and relying less heavily on their reliever medications. There were also significant improvements in self-reported asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. This project is examining the long-term sustainability of the previously funded asthma intervention program by performing a 12-month follow-up and data analysis. If the effects of this low-cost, high-value intervention are sustained, it is envisaged that it will significantly impact on health policy in asthma management. If the effects are not sustained, further analysis of the data will be undertaken to determine frequency of the intervention required to gain sustained improvements. In addition, patients, community pharmacists and general practitioners will be invited to participate in qualitative face-to-face interviews to determine the perceived feasibility of the community pharmacy intervention on a national scale. Identification of key barriers and enables to the implementation of the intervention will lead to an improved process if necessary, with a higher level of satisfaction among the target population.
Sponsors
Unit for Medication Outcomes Research and Education, School of Pharmacy, University of Tasmania
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants (patients with asthma, community pharmacusts and general practitioners) must have been involved in the previous intervention study.
Exclusion criteria
Participants who are deceased, patients who do not have a curent diagnosis of asthma, community pharmacists and GPs who no longer practice at least half-time.
Outcome results
None listed