Cardiovascular Diseases
Conditions
Keywords
quality of health care, prescriptions, drug, anticholesteremic agents, community pharmacy services
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of maximal support of community pharmacies to implement a pharmaceutical care model for improving underprescription and treatment persistence regarding lipid-lowering medication in patients with cardiovascular disease.
Detailed description
Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in large parts of the world. Next to life style changes, pharmaceutical treatment is a keystone in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Despite the strong evidence for the effectiveness of lipid-lowering therapy, less than half of the people eligible are treated. With specific medication searches in the community pharmacy database, an easy tool for detecting patients who are undertreated is available. Based on this tool, a pharmaceutical care model for improving underprescription and treatment persistence regarding lipid-lowering medication in patients with cardiovascular disease was constructed. Moreover, it is not known yet how to implement this pharmaceutical care model in community pharmacies effectively. With multifaceted interventions the behaviour of health professionals can be changed. In this study the effectiveness of a maximal support strategy, including interactive educational meetings, reminders, audit and feedback, is compared to a minimal implementation strategy.
Interventions
OTHERintensive implementation programme
educational manual; interactive educational meeting tailored to individual needs; reminders and feedback by 3 newsletters and at least 3 telephone calls.
OTHERcontrol
educational manual
Sponsors
Zorgverzekeraar CZ
Scientific Institute for Dutch Pharmacists, The Netherlands
Radboud University Medical Center
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* pharmacies: resident in the south of the Netherlands * patients: with antiplatelet therapy and without lipid-lowering medication
Exclusion criteria
for patients: * terminal disease * severe mental disorder
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The percentage of selected (=undertreated) patients receiving at least one prescription for lipid-lowering medication. | six months after the general practitioner received the list with selected patients |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Differences in prescribing for age categories and co-medication. | six months |
Countries
Netherlands
Outcome results
None listed