A pilot trial of health coaching in community pharmacy: the outcomes for patients with hypertension.

Health coaching is the study intervention. Health coaching is a more patient centred approach to health care, it involves the patient telling the pharmacist how they want to manage and improve their health. It is the role of the pharmacist to help the patient set goals and plans to improve their health, in comparison to standard care provided within the community pharmacy. Health coaching involves regular scheduled visits with the pharmacist in order to monitor the patient’s health progress as well as to motivate the patient and address any heath concerns. Initially, community pharmacies in the Melbourne metropolitan area will be recruited for this study. These Pharmacies have been recruited by the research student. Pharmacies must have employed a pharmacist willing to be trained in the health coaching. The research student will provide the pharmacists with the study protocol, study documents as well as the pharmacist PICF to read through. Pharmacists will be advised to contact the research student if they have any questions and/ or would like to consent to participate in the trial. It is the role of the research student to consent the pharmacists and ensure that they meet the study inclusion criteria. Pharmacists that agree to participate in the study must sign the study consent form. Once consented, the pharmacists will receive health coach training by the research student under the guidance of her supervisors. The pharmacists will also receive information and training on how to recruit and consent patients for the trial. The consented pharmacists will be assigned the role of a study investigator once they have consented to participate in the trial. Assigning pharmacists with this role is necessary as they will be required to recruit patients with poorly controlled hypertension to participate in the trial and receive health coaching. Patients that have their blood pressure regularly checked at the pharmacy can opt to have the readings documented in electronic pharmacy records. Patients will often request a copy of their records before seeing their GP or for their own records. The pharmacists will approach patients in their pharmacy that have poorly controlled hypertension. The pharmacist may recognise and approach patients that they recognise to have poorly controlled hypertension through these pharmacy records. Other patients that are taking antihypertensive could also be approached about the trial. Recruitment posters will also be place in pharmacy to assist with the recruitment of participants for the trial. When approaching potential participants about the trial pharmacists should provide patients with a brief overview of the trial in lay terms and also provide interested patients with a patient PICF to take home and read. Pharmacists should follow-up patients to whom they have provided the PICF at their next visit to the pharmacy, unless the patient is willing to consent sooner. Pharmacists should then consent patients to participate in the trial. These patients will then be screened by the pharmacist to ensure that they meet the inclusion/ exclusion criteria for the trial. Patients that meet study requirements can then receive health coaching at a time negotiated with the pharmacist. The pharmacist will consent and screen patients. Patients that have consented and screened, but do not meet the inclusion criteria for the study will be excluded from the trial. Pharmacists will need to consent and screen patients until they have at least 10 patients per site that meet the inclusion criteria for the study. Pharmacists will document on a record sheet provided by research team, the patient name, date approached about study and provided with PICF, and well as the date they followed up with the patient and the date the patient consented. This document will allow pharmacist to keep track of who they have approached about the study and who and when they need to follow up with the patient with regards to participation the trial. This document is to be kept confidential. The participants that meet the inclusion criteria for the trial will receive three health coaching sessions 45 minutes in length one-on-one with the pharmacist health coach. These sessions will be scheduled one month apart. The study will also involve a post study visit. In general the patients and pharmacist will need to commit 6 months to participate in the study.