Objective: The study was undertaken to determine if there was any difference in patient response to treatment between patients who had their antihypertensive drug prescription refilled by staff at the primary care unit or following a meeting with a licensed pharmacist.
Material and Methods: The study outcomes were compared between an experimental group and a control group in the aspects of the percentage of patients with drug-related problems, patient's blood pressure, the percentage of patients who visited a physicians at the hospital, the percentage of patients who visited through an appointment at the primary care unit and patient's satisfaction. The subjects were randomly allocated to a control group (n = 40) and an experimental group (n = 40) by simple random sampling. The patients in the experimental group received their drug refills and pharmaceutical care services by a pharmacist, while the patients in the control group received only routine services. The data were collected from patient charts, prescriptions, patient interviews and a questionnaire all participants completed. The validity of the study instruments was tested through an initial pilot study.
Results: The results demonstrated that the percentage of patients with drug-related problems in the experimental group (22.4%) was significantly less than the control group (100.0% p < 0.001). In the experimental group, drug-related problems were resolved or reduced when the patient met the pharmacist in the second or third visit. However, the pharmacist's services did not affect patient's blood pressure, the percentage of patients who visited a physician at the hospital or the percentage of patients who visited through an appointment at the primary care unit. The patients in the experimental group were satisfied with the pharmacist services at a very good level with a mean of satisfaction score of 4.5±0.6 from 5.
Conclusion: In conclusion, pharmaceutical antihypertensive drug refilling at the primary care unit by a pharmacist at Thepa district could reduce the number of drug-related problems and increase patient satisfaction with these services.