Characterization of pharmacists' interventions in asthma management: A systematic review

Abstract

Pharmacists' interventions in asthma management are complex. Structured educational programs and patient counseling appear to be the most frequent core components of pharmacists' interventions. Interventions were focused on providing information about the condition and on inhaler technique assessment and training. However, most studies failed to report the intervention dose sufficiently to be reproduced. The reporting of this indicator is crucial to ensure the reproducibility of the interventions assessed and their implementation in practice. (Registration number CRD42016029181.).

Essential Role of Pharmacists in Asthma Care and Management

“…As patient counseling and providing drug information form the most common components of pharmacist-led interventions, it is essential that pharmacists focus on improvements in patients’ understanding not only of asthma and inhaler technique but also of treatment regimens and adherence. 76 If patients are not satisfied with their treatment regimen, are experiencing AEs and/or are not achieving therapeutic benefit, or are not adhering to their prescribed medications, alternative regimens should be discussed with the patient and recommended to the physician. Interventions by HCPs have been shown to improve medication adherence in asthma, together with a reduction in the dose of controller medications and hospital admissions.…”

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

“…Lack of adherence to medications, poor knowledge of inhaler technique, triggers, and disease are major contributors in the inadequate management of asthma. 19 Basically, it is pertinent to mention that much of the burden is avoidable, and strategies are required to improve the management of asthma.…”

“…Previous systematic reviews had evaluated the role of CPs in asthma management. However, many of them were not conclusive due to the lack of quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis) of the outcomes,10,19,21,22 while other reviews mix a different healthcare setting (hospital, or clinics, or community pharmacy), and thus lack specificity for community pharmacist,10,22–24 nevertheless one review focused on only one outcome, ie, adherence and attempted meta-analysis but again used A mixed setting and does not focus on collaboration. 24 …”

Do pharmacy intervention reports adequately describe their interventions? A template for intervention description and replication analysis of reports included in a systematic review

“…These results add to growing literature on the limits of intervention descriptions in the pharmacy literature10–12 45 and in other biomedical fields 3. We now suggest some practical steps that might be taken to improve the quality of reporting.…”

“…Thus, the rationale and utility of TIDieR and DEPICT overlap substantially. Studies using DEPICT to evaluate reporting quality found 59% of chronic kidney disease interventions11 and ‘most’ asthma trials12 were not implementable based on the available intervention descriptions.…”