Knowledge and self-management practices among type II diabetes patients: a study in Gatundu town in Kiambu, Kenya

Background: Type-2 diabetes mellitus is recognized as a key non-communicable disease affecting over 425 million world-wide, with only half of them currently diagnosed. The most crucial risk factor for mortality associated with type-2 diabetes is poor adherence to the prescribed medication.Methods: A cohort study design was used to study 98 type 2 diabetes patients in Kiambu County. Consecutive sampling method was used. The collection of data utilized a pre-designed and piloted structured questionnaire. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26.0 and correlation between the total count of the remaining diabetic medication and the blood sugar after one month follow-up was assessed. Univariate logistic regression was conducted in assessing the association between each of the predictor variables and the two main outcome variables (adherence to medication and glycemic control). A multiple logistic regression model was constructed for each of the two outcome variables.Results: 31 (31.6%) of the study subjects were between 60-69 years, 70 (71.4%) were married and 66 (67.3%) were female. In addition, 37 (37.8%) had diabetes for more than 8 years, 70.6% had hypertension and 83.7% were prescribed oral hypoglycaemic agents as initial treatment. Majority of the respondents constituting 80.7% had high adherence to prescribed diabetes medication regimen, knowledge on diabetes treatment (p=0.009) and detecting low blood sugar levels through signs and symptoms and manage (p=0.001) had significantly association with adherence to antidiabetic.Conclusions: Diabetic patients who have knowledge on diabetes and its management, those who stop alcohol and cigarette smoking and those who understand hypertension are more likely to adhere to diabetic treatment.

Benefits of Pharmacist Intervention in the Critical Care Geriatric Patients with Infectious Diseases: A Propensity Score Matching Retrospective Cohort Study

Background The variabilities of the pharmacotherapeutics’ efficacy and safety in the ICU geriatric patients further highlighted the importance of optimization of antimicrobial therapy. The aim of our study was to assess the impacts of clinical pharmacist intervention on antibiotic use, cost outcomes, and clinical benefits of the geriatric patients with infectious diseases in the critical care unit (ICU). Methods A propensity score matching (PSM) retrospective cohort study was undertaken in ICU patients with infectious diseases from 2017 to 2019. Baseline demographic, pharmacists’ activities and clinical outcomes including the patients’ mortality, antibiotic utilization, length of ICU stay (LOS), and costs of the drugs were compared between these two groups. Univariate analysis and bivariate logistic regression were adopted to illustrate the influencing factors on the mortality outcome. Results Of 1523 patients evaluated during the observed period, a total of 102 geriatric ICU patients with infectious diseases were enrolled in each group after PSM matching. Top 5 recommendations occurred by the pharmacist were medication regimen adjustments by diseases on progression, medication regimen adjustments by microbial results, drug withdrawal by full treatment courses, suggestions for TDM and medication regimen adjustments by de-escalation. The antibiotic use density (AUD) of all antibiotics consumed decreased significantly (p=0.018) from 241.91 DDD/100 bed days in the control group to 176.64 DDD/100 bed days in the pharmacist exposed group. AUD proportion was dropped in carbapenems from 23.07% to 14.43% and tetracyclines from 11.56% to 6.26% after pharmacist interventions. Although the mortality or LOS had no statistical difference between these two groups, the total cost of antibiotics was reduced significantly from $836.3 (IQR 426.88, 1682.09) in the control group to $362.15 (IQR 148.23, 1034.4) (p＜0.001) in the pharmacist intervention group, and cost for all the medications were reduced from $2868.18 ($1268.44, $5059.00) to $1941.5 ($1092.89, $3538.97) (p=0.016). Univariate analyses showed that there was no statistically difference in pharmacist intervention between the groups of survival and death (p=0.288) Conclusions The services provided by the critical care pharmacist could promote the rational use of drugs, which benefit both ICU geriatric patient and hospital care.

Prescription Renewal Request Reviews by Student Pharmacists in a Family Medicine Clinic

Prescription renewal requests were reviewed by student pharmacists on advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE) at a primary care and family medicine clinic. Student pharmacists reviewed requests and triaged them to the respective primary care provider (PCP), along with any recommendations to optimize the medication regimen. This study aims to assess the acceptance of these recommendations as well as the student’s perception of this activity as a learning tool. A total of 35 4th-year pharmacy students participated in this activity during APPE rotations from May 2019 to March 2021. A total of 184 recommendations were made, with 128 (70%) being accepted by PCPs. Based on a post-rotation anonymous survey, students reported high levels of agreeance that this activity had a positive impact on their education in a variety of ways. This prescription renewal request review process has been shown to have a positive impact on patient care and clinic workflow while also providing pharmacy students with a helpful educational activity.

Effect of Pharmacist Intervention on 30-Adverse Drug Event after Discharge in Elderly Patients through a Comprehensive Medication Reconciliation: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Polypharmacy can cause drug-related problems, such as potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use and medication regimen complexity in the elderly. This comprehensive medication reconciliation study was designed as a prospective, open-label, randomized clinical trial with patients aged 65 years or older from July–December 2020. Comprehensive medication reconciliation comprises medication reviews based on the PIM criteria. The discharge of medication was simplified to reduce regimen complexity. Changes in regimen complexity were evaluated using the Korean version of the medication regimen complexity (MRCI-K). Adverse drug events (ADEs) were monitored throughout hospitalization and 30 days after discharge. Of the 32 patients, 34.4% (n = 11) reported ADEs before discharge, and 19.2% (n = 5) ADEs were reported at the 30-day phone call. No ADEs were reported in the intervention group, whereas five events were reported in the control group (p = 0.039) on the 30-day phone call. The intervention group showed a greater score reduction than the control group in terms of the number of medications, MRCI-K, and PIMs. As a result of the pharmacist intervention, we identified the feasibility of pharmacist-led interventions using comprehensive medication reconciliation, including the criteria of the PIMs and the MRCI-K, and the differences in ADEs between the intervention and control groups at the 30-day follow-up after discharge (Clinical trial number: KCT0005994, 03/12/2021).

Medication regimen complexity vs patient acuity for predicting critical care pharmacist interventions

Disclaimer In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. Purpose Quantifying and predicting critical care pharmacist (CCP) workload has significant ramifications for expanding CCP services that improve patient outcomes. Medication regimen complexity has been proposed as an objective, pharmacist-oriented metric that demonstrates relationships to patient outcomes and pharmacist interventions. The purpose of this evaluation was to compare the relationship of medication regimen complexity versus a traditional patient acuity metric for evaluating pharmacist interventions. Summary This was a post hoc analysis of a previously completed prospective, observational study. Pharmacist interventions were prospectively collected and tabulated at 24 hours, 48 hours, and intensive care unit (ICU) discharge, and the electronic medical record was reviewed to collect patient demographics, medication data, and outcomes. The primary outcome was the relationship between medication regimen complexity–intensive care unit (MRC-ICU) score, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, and pharmacist interventions at 24 hours, 48 hours, and ICU discharge. These relationships were determined by Spearman rank-order correlation (rS) and confirmed by calculating the beta coefficient (β) via multiple linear regression adjusting for patient age, gender, and admission type. Data on 100 patients admitted to a mixed medical/surgical ICU were retrospectively evaluated. Both MRC-ICU and APACHE II scores were correlated with ICU interventions at all 3 time points (at 24 hours, rS = 0.370 [P < 0.001] for MRC-ICU score and rS = 0.283 [P = 0.004] for APACHE II score); however, this relationship was not sustained for APACHE II in the adjusted analysis (at 24 hours, β = 0.099 [P = 0.001] for MRC-ICU and β = 0.031 [P = 0.085] for APACHE II score). Conclusion A pharmacist-oriented score had a stronger relationship with pharmacist interventions as compared to patient acuity. As pharmacists have demonstrated value across the continuum of patient care, these findings support that pharmacist-oriented workload predictions require tailored metrics, beyond that of patient acuity.

The Importance of the Pharmacist’s Role and the Quality of Pharmacy Services in Nursing Home Care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires nursing homes (NHs) to provide pharmacy services to ensure the safety of medication use, such as minimizing off-label medication use for residents with dementia. This study examined NH’s response to this requirement and its relationship to medication-related outcomes. The contemporaneous relationship between the quality of pharmacy services and outcome measures were modeled using facility-level longitudinal data from 2011-2017 and facility fixed-effects. The results revealed that deficiency in pharmacy services increased medication-related issues by: 11% in inappropriate medication regimen, 5% in medication error rate >5%, and 3% in any serious medication errors. Additionally, deficiency in pharmacy services was associated with small but statistically significant increases in antipsychotic use, residents with daily pain, number of hospitalizations and rehospitalization rate. The results suggest that pharmacy services have a direct and immediate impact on medication outcomes. The results underscore the importance of pharmacy services in NHs.

Clinical Pharmacist’s Contribution to Medication Reconciliation in Outpatient Specialty Clinics in Iran

Background: The majority of research in medication reconciliation has focused on the inpatient settings, and little is known about the outpatient settings, particularly in developing countries. As such, we conducted this study to evaluate direct clinical pharmacist involvement in medication reconciliation in outpatient specialty clinics in Iran. Methods: This prospective interventional study was conducted from September 2019 to February 2020 in a University-affiliated clinic in Iran. For 196 patients over 18 years of age who were scheduled for an appointment with a physician, medication reconciliation intervention was carried out by a clinical pharmacist. The number and type of unintentional discrepancies, their potential harm to the patients, their correlation with the patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, and the number of accepted recommendations upon the unintentional discrepancies by the clinicians were assessed and recorded. Additionally, patients' understanding of any change made to their current medication regimen was also assessed. The association between the unintentional discrepancies with patients' characteristics was also assessed. Results: Totally, 57.14% of patients had at least one or more unintentional medication discrepancies, with an overall rate of 1.51 (±0.62) per patient. This is while the patient understanding of their medication changes was inadequate in a significant proportion of the study patients (62.2%). Patients with older ages, lower educational levels, and a higher number of medications and comorvidities were at a higher risk of having unintentional discrepancies. The most common type of unintentional discrepancy was the omission of a drug, and almost half of the reconciliation errors might have had the potential to cause moderate or severe harm to the patient. From 145 recommendations suggested by the clinical pharmacist upon unintentional discrepancies, 131 cases (90.34%) were accepted and implemented by the clinicians. Conclusion: These findings further support the need for conducting medication reconciliation in outpatient settings to identify discrepancies and enhance the safety of patient medication use.