The impact of clinical pharmacy services on patients with hypertension

Globally, hypertension is a major concern in all health care systems. The role of clinical pharmacists in managing hypertension is essential not only in dispensing drugs but also in actively participating in managing treatment regimens. The goal of this study was to support the role of clinical pharmacists in managing patient hypertension therapy.

This study was designed as a pragmatic, prospective, quasi-experimental study. In this study, 160 patients were enrolled, but seven patients withdrew from the study. The effects of the intervention were studied on the remaining 153 participants. Blood pressure, MINICHAL score, and DAI-10 score were measured at the beginning and at the end of the study. The patients received different medication counselling sessions that included medication education. The counselling sessions were conducted three times, with each session 4 months apart from the previous session. The first session was conducted at the beginning of the study following the enrolment of the patients. Only the first session was carried out in person for all the participants, while the other two sessions were conducted either in person or via a phone call.

Ninety-three male participants (60.8%) and 60 female participants were included (39.2%), and the mean age was 44.18 (±8.385). Most patients enrolled in the study were diagnosed with hypertension within the previous 12 months from the beginning of the study. The mean changes in SBP and DBP between the baseline and final readings were 13.1 and 5.4 mmHg, respectively P < .001). In addition, the DAI-10 positive score improved from 33.3% of the study population at the beginning of the study to 86.3% of the population at the end of the study.

The interventions of clinical pharmacists were found to be significantly important in improving the outcomes of hypertensive patients. Therefore, legislation making clinical pharmacy services compulsory in Middle Eastern health care systems, and particularly the UAE, is needed to expand the roles of pharmacists within the health care system.