Physician-pharmacist teams may help increase hypertension control.
HealthDay (11/23, Edelson) reported that, according to a study published in the Nov. 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, hypertension "is better controlled by doctor-pharmacist teams working hand-in-hand than by doctors and pharmacists working alone." Researchers from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy divided "402 people treated for high blood pressure at six clinics...into two groups."
Medscape (11/23, Barclay, subscription required) reported that patients at "three clinics were randomly assigned to a control group," while patients at the other three "clinics were randomly assigned to an intervention group in which physicians and pharmacists underwent team-building exercises." Next, "using national guidelines, clinical pharmacists made drug therapy recommendations to physicians in the intervention group." The investigators discovered that "in the control group, mean guideline adherence scores increased from 49.4 ± 19.3 at baseline to 53.4 ± 18.1 at six months (8.1% increase), compared with a 55.4% increase in the intervention group (from 40.4 ± 22.6 at baseline to 62.8 ± 13.5 at six months)."
MedPage Today (11/23, Phend) reported, "These results suggest that clinics and health systems with clinical pharmacists consider giving them a more direct role in patient management," the authors said. An editorial accompanying the study pointed out that "so far, the medical home model for chronic conditions such as hypertension typically hasn't included a pharmacist," but "before the medical home" concept "takes further root, comprehensive efforts should be made to ensure that pharmacists are included on the team because of the mounting evidence for their contribution to quality of care."
