An evaluation of a multi-site community pharmacy based chronic obstructive pulmonary disease support service

Wright, David, Twigg, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-3850, Barton, Garry, Thornley, Tracey and Kerr, Clare (2015) An evaluation of a multi-site community pharmacy based chronic obstructive pulmonary disease support service. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 23 (1). pp. 36-43. ISSN 0961-7671

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Abstract

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive chronic condition which can be effectively managed by smoking cessation, optimising prescribed therapy and providing treatment to prevent chest infections from causing hospitalisation. The government agenda in the UK is for community pharmacists to become involved in chronic disease management and COPD is one area where they are ideally located to provide a comprehensive service.   Objective: To evaluate the effect of a community pharmacy based COPD service on patient outcomes.   Method: Patients in one UK location were recruited over a 3 month period to receive a community pharmacy based COPD support service consisting of signposting to or provision of smoking cessation service, therapy optimisation, and recommendation to obtain a rescue pack containing steroid and antibiotic to prevent hospitalisation as a result of chest infection. Data was collected over a six month period for all recruited patients. Appropriate clinical outcomes, patient reported medication adherence, quality of life and NHS resource utilisation were measured.   Key findings: 306 patients accessed the service and full data to enable comparison before and after was available for 137. Significant improvements in patient reported adherence, utilisation of rescue packs, quality of life and a reduction in routine GP visits were identified. The intervention cost was estimated to be off-set by reductions in the use of other NHS services (GP and A&E visits and hospital admissions).   Conclusion: Results suggest that the service improved patient medicine taking behaviours and that it was cost-effective.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2014 Community Pharmacy Futures. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice published by. John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Pharmaceutical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: community pharmacy,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,adherence,quality of life,economic evaluation
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Patient Care
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Economics
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Services and Primary Care
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Clinical Trials Unit
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 20 Jan 2015 14:02
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 01:24
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/51492
DOI: 10.1111/ijpp.12165

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