Community pharmacy brief screening intervention to improve health outcomes for patients diagnosed with chronic diseases

This study aimed to develop a new screening model designed for use in community pharmacies, to support people living with chronic health conditions. We hypothesized that poor memory and mental health may affect patients’ level of adherence to medications and selfcare, resulting in poor long-term health outcomes. There were three main interventions: screening for adherence, mental health, and memory; referral as required to other healthcare professionals and medication optimization. In addition to demographics, four validated tools were used: the Morisky 8-items scale, the clinically useful anxiety scale, the clinically useful depression scale, and the dementia UK concerned about your memory questionnaire. All pharmacy staff who were involved in the delivery of the model received prior training and certification. To ensure safety for all concerned, pharmacists and their staff involved in the study also received training and certification in Mental Health First Aid. The study concluded that the designed model is workable for delivery from community pharmacies. Community pharmacies are better placed too early intervene at the point of medication dispensing (initiation or repeat) to engage with the patient and share or review information about their conditions and medications, the consequences of good and poor adherence to therapy, and clarify their responsibility in self-management. The self-completed screening surveys for adherence, mental health, and cognitive function also proved successful to ensure that the patient is capable to undertake self-management task, pharmacology, lifestyle, and self-care, which is passed to them from their treating teams while they are waiting for their prescriptions.

Citation

Arikawe, O., Morrissey, H., & Ball, P. (2022). Community pharmacy brief screening intervention to improve health outcomes for patients diagnosed with chronic diseases ‎. Journal of Advanced Pharmacy Education and Research, 12(3), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.51847/bmamIaRVB8

Type

Journal article

Language

en

Description

© 2022 The Authors. Published by SPER Publications and Solutions Pvt. Ltd. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.51847/bmamIaRVB8

ISSN

2249-3379

Collections

Faculty of Science and Engineering