Effect of Pharmacist Participation in Multidisciplinary Team for Home Visit on Blood Pressure and Drug Adherence of Stroke Patients

Abstract

Objective: To determine the impact of pharmacist participation in multidisciplinary team for home visit on blood pressure and adherence to antihypertensive drugs of stroke patients. Methods: The study participants included 34 patients with a history of stroke who had previously received home visit from multidisciplinary team without a pharmacist as a team member. A quasi-experimental study without a control group was conducted to compare blood pressures and adherence to antihypertensive drugs before and after pharmacists’ participation in home visits with other health care professionals. Each patient was visited once a month for a total of 3 months from December 2014 to February 2015. The pharmacists provided information to the patients or caretakers on indications of each medication, the beneficial effects of blood pressure control to prevent stroke recurrence, how to manage timing of drug administration, and other advices on medication-related problems or any issues concerned by the patients or caregivers. Blood pressure at each visit was measured with an electronic sphygmomanometer. Adherence to antihypertensive drugs was measured by pill-count method. Results: Compared to that on the first visit (baseline measurement), systolic blood pressure at the third visit decreased from 147.59±5.67 to 140.26±7.61 mm Hg (P<0.01), diastolic blood pressure decreased from 90.24±8.81 to 86.03±7.55 mm Hg (P=0.01), and adherence to antihypertensive drugs increased from 80.43±17.01% to 89.69±9.67% (P<0.01). Conclusion: Pharmacist participation in multidisciplinary team for home visit of stroke patients leads to a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as increased adherence to antihypertensive drug use. Thus, pharmacist participation in multidisciplinary team for home visit should be encouraged to improve quality of care among this group of patients.