Remote pharmaceutical care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis

BackgroundAccess to drugs with hospital-restricted dispensation, such as those for patients with rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis, is regulated by healthcare policy. These drugs have the greatest cost-effective impact on the healthcare system. This is why a model for Pharmaceutical Care based on follow-up teleconsultations was defined in our hospital to improve patient well-being. Objective To evaluate clinical changes on patients when our remote Pharmaceutical Care model is applied and describe the work carried out by pharmacists when applying it. Setting Pharmacy Department of a Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Method Cross-sectional observational study of the remote Pharmaceutical Care model developed by Clinical Pharmacists. All patients diagnosed with psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis who were receiving active treatment with Hospital/Specialist only drugs, during the period from May to December 2018, were included. Main outcome measures The corresponding healthcare activity was recorded and to determine the utility of the model, the clinical response to treatment of patients included in the study was recorded. Results The implementation of teleconsultation is statistically related to the biological treatment response of patients with psoriasis (p = 0.006) and rheumatoid arthritis (p = 0.019). In those patients the healthcare activity of calculating and/or recording clinical variables of effectiveness/safety is statistically associated to biological treatment response (65.62% vs 35%, p = 0.015 and 73.14% vs 53.26%, p = 0.003). Conclusions The implementation of the model described lends added value to traditional pharmacotherapeutic management of biological treatments in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis since response is improved but patient well-being is not diminished.