Benzodiazepines Therapeutic Use
Conditions
Keywords
community pharmacy services, patient care, outcome assessment, benzodiazepines therapeutic use
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to compare the effect of two implementation strategies for a simple patient-directed intervention to reduce long-term benzodiazepine use in Dutch community pharmacies.
Detailed description
In Dutch community pharmacies many projects have been undertaken in the field of pharmaceutical care, with mixed results. It is not yet clear which elements exactly contribute to the success of these projects and to implementation of pharmaceutical care. One of the subjects to which attention is paid in community pharmacies, is the undesirable long-term use of benzodiazepines. Treatment methods for discontinuation of long-term benzodiazepine use have been studied rather extensively. A simple patient-directed discontinuation letter proved to be effective in several studies. Comparison: a minimal intervention group (pharmacists carrying out the intervention guided by a manual only) compared to a maximal intervention group (pharmacists receiving a manual, a training aimed at better cooperation and communication with family practitioners and some support in the management of the project).
Interventions
BEHAVIORALtraining and follow-up of pharmacists
BEHAVIORALpatient-directed discontinuation letter
Sponsors
Zorgverzekeraar CZ
Scientific Institute for Dutch Pharmacists, The Netherlands
Radboud University Medical Center
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* benzodiazepine use for more than 3 months in the last 12 months AND for more than 60 days in the last 2 months
Exclusion criteria
* treatment by psychiatrist, treatment of alcohol- or drug misuse, psychotic episodes in history, epilepsy, terminal disease, not mastering the Dutch language, individual criteria used by the family practitioner
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| percentage of general practitioners that reviewed and returned the list of longterm users. | — |
| percentage of letters sent by the pharmacists in the four months after receiving the manual. | — |
| percentage of long-term benzodiazepine users that managed to quit or significantly reduce their use in months 0-3, 4-6 and 10-12 after receiving the letter. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| evaluation of the implementation strategies | — |
Countries
Netherlands
Outcome results
None listed