Cardiovascular risk reduction strategies in community pharmacy settings need real world angle

The MyHealthCheckup Study: Training Graduate Students to Implement Cardiovascular Risk Screening Programs in Community Pharmacies

“…There have been a number of studies demonstrating the benefits of using community pharmacies for health promotion programs; however, widespread implementation has not yet occurred. 10,24 The present study demonstrates the feasibility of an inexpensive pharmacy-based intervention program implemented by graduate students. Future research is required to assess the long-term benefits and cost-effectiveness of the proposed program.…”

“…Blackburn and colleagues have argued that pharmacy intervention research is frequently too focused on research design and protocol rather than real-world applicability. 24 Due to the cross-sectional study design, we were not able to assess whether the program successfully promoted long-term health behaviour change. It is very likely that sustained health behaviour change requires more than 1 appointment with a health coach.…”

New Approaches to an Old Problem

“…Il existe bien des ouvrages sur la manière d'améliorer l'observance, et nous avons même publié plusieurs articles à ce sujet [3][4][5][6] , mais pour moi la réflexion qui résume le mieux la situation est celle du Dr C. Everett Koop, l'ancien Directeur des Services de santé publique des États-Unis : « si les patients ne les prennent pas, les médicaments ne fonctionnent pas 7 . » Quelle que soit la méthode que vous choisissez d'appliquer, il est clair que les occasions ne manquent pas d'améliorer la santé des patients à l'aide d'initiatives d'observance menées par les pharmaciens.…”

“…While the body of literature on how to improve adherence is extensive and we've even published several articles on this topic ourselves, [3][4][5][6] my preferred viewpoint comes from former US Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, who simply stated, "Drugs don't work in patients who don't take them." 7 So regardless of which approach you choose to implement, it's clear there's plenty of opportunity to improve patient outcomes through pharmacist-led adherence initiatives.…”

The Collaborative Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Primary Care (CCARP) Study

“…1,2 Although multidisciplinary and collaborative protocols involving pharmacists have proven to enhance cardiovascular risk reduction success, [3][4][5] the complexity and resources required for these strategies likely limit their application and sustainability in realworld settings. 6 For example, one study demonstrated that clinical pharmacists could facilitate blood pressure reduction among patients in primary care clinics; however, the pharmacists and physicians were primarily academic faculty members, focused solely on blood pressure reduction, and managed only a small group of 77 patients. 7 Likely, the clinical protocol followed in this study would not be easily reproduced by a typical pharmacist without advanced clinical training.…”