Opportunities to develop the professional role of community pharmacists in the care of patients with asthma: a cross-sectional study

Delivery of enhanced asthma care in pharmacies: Perceptions and experiences of Australian service providers

BACKGROUND

Evidence-based asthma management services have been tested in Australian community pharmacies for over 2 decades and have been well received by patients but are not retained in practice. The positive clinical outcomes of these tested services suggest the potential for wider implementation, for which the providers' perspective is critical.

OBJECTIVE

This investigation evaluates the implementability of the Pharmacy Asthma Service (PAS) through the experiences and perceptions of the community pharmacists delivering the service.

METHODS

Forty-eight pharmacists took part in a posttrial semi-structured qualitative telephone interview, representing 42 of 51 (82%) eligible PAS intervention arm pharmacies. Qualitative data were deductively analyzed in accordance with the Implementation Outcomes Framework.

RESULTS

Pharmacists recognized the positive impact of the service on patients' health outcomes, the pharmacist's practice, and in fostering stronger and more beneficial pharmacist-patient relationships. However, whilst acknowledging the importance of such a service, the pharmacists faced challenges in recruitment and patient follow-up. Pharmacists stated that further work is required to address pharmacist and patient time constraints, patient health beliefs and to increase the acceptance of pharmaceutical care provision in community pharmacy practice by patients and other health care professionals.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacists can deliver enhanced clinical care for asthma patients with positive perceived professional and patient outcomes. However, it remains evident that time, remuneration, and recognition of the pharmacist's role in chronic care management form barriers to the implementation of asthma services in community pharmacies. Broader policy and systemic changes are required to successfully balance medication supply and quality patient management roles at the same time as a required shift in research processes.

The management of asthma in adult patients in the community pharmacy setting: Literature review

BACKGROUND

Asthma poses a public health concern, with an estimated 235 million people currently living with the condition globally. The provision of evidence-based, patient-centred services for adult asthma patients in community pharmacy which involves collaboration across the multidisciplinary team could improve their asthma control.

OBJECTIVES

A literature review was conducted to examine the evidence of asthma management in community pharmacy setting.

METHODS

Five databases were searched to identify relevant articles published before February 2021. Screening of the potential studies was performed to remove articles that did not comply with the inclusion criteria. Relevant data from all included studies was collected using a data extraction form to ensure consistency throughout the review.

RESULTS

Twenty studies were included in the review; all were conducted in community pharmacy settings in the period of 2001-2020, in different countries. The studies included randomised controlled trials, controlled trials and observational studies. Several successful community pharmacy-based services that were provided to asthma patients to improve their asthma management were highlighted in this review. These interventions consisted of one or more components and included: patient education, inhaler technique improvement, patient counselling, self-management plans, development and provision of asthma action plans and referral to other health care practitioners. None of the studies involved medication or dosage changes by community pharmacy.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence discussed in this review showed that community pharmacists are well-placed to deliver services to asthma patients and many studies were conducted in the community pharmacy to improve asthma control in adult patients. However, further research could be conducted to explore further opportunities for community pharmacy to enhance asthma patients management of their condition.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of collaborative practice between community pharmacist and general practitioner on asthma management

Objective: This systematic review aims to investigate the impact of collaborative practice between community pharmacist (CP) and general practitioner (GP) in asthma management. Methods: A systematic search was performed across 10 databases (PubMed, Medline/Ovid, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, PsycARTICLES®, Science Direct, Education Resource Information Centre, PRO-Quest), and grey literature using selected MeSH and key words, such as "community pharmacist", "general practitioner", and "medicine use review". The risk of bias of the included studies was assessed by Cochrane risk of bias tool. All studies reporting any of the clinical, humanistic, and economical outcomes using collaborative practice between CPs and GPs in management of asthma, such as CPs conducting medications reviews, patient referrals or providing education and counseling, were included. Results: A total of 23 studies (six RCTs, four C-RCT, three controlled interventions, seven pre-post, and three case control) were included. In total, 11/14 outcomes were concluded in favor of CP-GP collaborative interventions with different magnitude of effect size. Outcomes, such as asthma severity, asthma control, asthma symptoms, PEFR, SABA usage, hospital visit, adherence, and quality of life (QoL) (Asthma Quality-of-Life Questionnaire [AQLQ]; Living with Asthma Questionnaire [LWAQ]) demonstrated a small effect size (d≥0.2), while inhalation technique, ED visit, and asthma knowledge witnessed medium effect sizes (ES) (d≥0.5). In addition to that, inhalation technique yielded large ES (d≥0.8) in RCTs subgroup analysis. However, three outcomes, FEV, corticosteroids usage, and preventer-to-reliever ratio, did not hold significant ES (d<0.2) and, thus, remain inconclusive. The collaboration was shown to be value for money in the economic studies in narrative synthesis, however, the limited number of studies hinder pooling of data in meta-analysis. Conclusion: The findings from this review established a comprehensive evidence base in support of the positive impact of collaborative practice between CP and GP in the management of asthma.

"Being in Control of My Asthma Myself" Patient Experience of Asthma Management: A Qualitative Interpretive Description

Asthma control can be achieved with effective and safe medication use; however, many patients are not controlled. Patients’ perceptions of asthma, asthma treatment, and pharmacist roles can impact patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore patients’ experiences and patient–pharmacist relationships in asthma care. Qualitative Interpretive Description method guided the study. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 11 patients recruited from personal contacts, pharmacies, and asthma clinics. Categories and themes were identified using inductive constant comparison. Themes indicated patients had a personalized common sense approach to asthma management, “go-to” health care provider, and prioritized patient–pharmacist relationships. Patients described their illness experiences and asthma control based on personal markers similar to the common sense model of self-regulation. Patients chose a family physician, asthma specialist, respiratory therapist, or pharmacist as an expert resource for asthma management. Patient perceived pharmacists’ roles as information provider, adviser, or care provider. Pharmacists who develop a collaborative relationship with their asthma patients are better positioned to provide tailored education and self-management support. Inviting patients to share their perspective could increase patient engagement and uptake of personalised asthma action plans to achieve asthma control.

Know Your Numbers: Creation and implementation of a novel community health mobile application (app) by student pharmacists

OBJECTIVES

A free mobile application (app), Know Your Numbers (KYN), was developed by student pharmacists to assist underserved community members to track their health numbers. The study objectives included creating a health app, implementing a pilot program, and analyzing the frequency of app use and perceptions of community members toward their health numbers, pharmacists, and health apps.

SETTING

Student pharmacists recruited participants at the community clinics and health fairs organized in underserved communities of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

PRACTICE DESCRIPTION

This study used a pre- and post-survey study design to compare perceptions before and after use of a health app. Eligible participants completed a 22-item pre-survey that assessed understanding of their health numbers, previous health app use, and perceptions of pharmacists.

EVALUATION

Frequency of app use and change in perceptions of community members toward health numbers, pharmacists, and health apps before and after enrolling in KYN were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed rank tests for matched pre- and post-surveys.

RESULTS

Thirty-three participants were enrolled for 56 days. African American participants (93.9%) earned less than $25,000 annually (56.7%). On average, participants had 3.98 interactions per week. Before using the mobile health app, 84.8% of users felt comfortable using a health app, but only 9% used one regularly. The post-survey response rate was 27.2% (n = 9). More participants agreed that a health app helped them to meet their health goals after the program (24.4% to 100%; P = 0.0006). More than 90% of participants agreed in both surveys that it is important to check their health numbers regularly and that they trust pharmacists to provide accurate information.

CONCLUSION

KYN is a novel mobile tool that promotes chronic disease self-management and the profession of pharmacy. These findings support the benefits of mobile health app's usability and its ability to assist in achieving personal health goals.

Weekly self-measurement of FEV1 and PEF and its impact on ACQ (asthma control questionnaire)-scores: 12-week observational study with 76 patients

The “Asthma Control Questionnaire” (ACQ) is a very common questionnaire for assessing asthma control. This study compares different ACQ versions in a self-monitoring program over a 12-week period combining them with patients' self-measurements of peak expiratory flow (PEF) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). The objective was to test the feasibility of FEV1-self-measurements and to compare ACQ versions regarding possible additional information given by lung function. In this prospective multicenter observational study 100 adult asthma patients, recruited at six family practices and two pulmologists' private practices in Germany, completed the ACQ weekly, performing self-measurements of PEF and FEV1. Seventy-six patients were included into final analysis with only 3% missing values. Scores for all ACQ versions improved significantly (all P-values < 0.05) with reductions of 32% for ACQ5, 31% for ACQ6, 22% for ACQ7-FEV1, and 21% for ACQ7-PEF with high Pearson’s correlation coefficients of all scores (r between 0.96 and 0.99). ACQ7-FEV1 scores were significantly higher than others. Separated courses of lung function parameters showed nearly no change, but ACQ5 and ACQ6 as scores for symptoms and reliever medication improved constantly. ACQ5 and ACQ6 revealed higher percentages of patients classified as “controlled” than ACQ7-scores. In conclusion, with only a few missing data points, our results suggest feasibility of FEV1-self-measurements. Courses of symptom-related and lung function-related ACQ items differ clearly. Our results support the GINA recommendations to consider symptoms and lung function separately. FEV1-self-measurements for research purposes may be included with the ACQ, but in clinical practice seem to measure a different domain to symptomatic asthma control.

Lung function tests taken by patients at home is doable, but yields different information than self-reports of disease control. Christoph Werner and colleagues from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, tested the feasibility of collecting lung function data from patients who measured forced expiratory volume in one second by themselves. These same patients also completed the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), which describes symptom severity and medication use. Looking at data from 76 participants, the researchers found that people did well measuring forced expiratory volume in one second, but they could not say whether this test was superior to another metric of lung function that considers peak expiratory flow. The results also showed that symptom scores and lung function assays seem to capture different aspects of the disease, meaning they’re worth considering separately rather than lumping together in a single test.