Empowering pharmacists working in primary care through a cardiovascular disease clinical management course: Impact on...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is currently the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. A competent healthcare workforce working in primary care delivering disease management services efficiently is the cornerstone of well performing health systems, impacting patient outcomes positively. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a training course to support pharmacists working in General Practitioner (GP) practices; and to evaluate its impact on practice.

A before and after evaluation model was employed to assess the effectiveness of training resorting to a survey exploring self-confidence and knowledge on clinical management of three CVD topics: Atrial Fibrillation (AF), Hypertension and hyperlipidaemia. Before and after training data (immediate and retained after 6 months) were analysed at the Primary Care Network (PCN) and GP Practice level of the pharmacists who took part in the training sessions. Data were analysed in IBM SPSS v.29 resorting to paired samples t-test and Cohen's d for estimation of the effect size. Independent samples t-tests were performed for a sample group of PCNs and GP practices with and without training (comparator group).

An improvement with large effect size was observed in pharmacists' self-confidence and knowledge related to the hypertension topic, suggesting potential practical benefit. For the topics of AF and hyperlipidaemia, pharmacists' confidence also increased with a large effect size, but for knowledge, the effect size of the increase was medium or small. Data suggests that pharmacists' practice has improved in both groups after 6 months, which suggests that it was not a sole result of the training.

This study provide evidence that the course improved pharmacists' knowledge and self-confidence, likely to contribute to performance in their clinical practice. Patients' clinical benefit is expected from pharmacists' improved capacity to effectively engage in medicines optimisation.