Community Pharmacist Services for Hypertensive Patients: A Novel Practice in Shanghai, China

• Main Authors: Qian Liu MA, Xiaoyan Zhu BA, Mei Shen BS, Jianping Wu BS, Shuqin Chen BS, Zhongzhuang Wang MS, Wenya Yu PhD, Jianwei Shi PhD, Jiaoling Huang PhD, Zhaoxin Wang PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2021-06-01
• Series: Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580211020874

For Chinese community pharmacists, there is a lack of guidance before and after the drug treatment process for community residents. This study aimed to investigate community pharmacists’ role in hypertension management. One hundred ninety-six hypertensive patients were randomly selected from the studied community. For patients in the intervention group, monthly meetings were scheduled with a community pharmacist. Patients in the non-intervention group received standard care from their physicians. In the intervention group, the percentage using information from pharmacists increased significantly, from 54.3% to 94.2% ( P  < .05). Awareness of self-management was also enhanced, with community self-management group attendance increasing from 53.4% to 77.7% ( P  < .05), but the non-intervention group did not change significantly. Hypertensive patients’ beliefs about community pharmacists also improved significantly. Hypertension status also showed a significant improvement, whereas for participants without intervention, it worsened over time. In addition to increasing knowledge regarding drug use, care provided by community pharmacists can also significantly improve blood pressure status. For those who did not receive intervention, a disproportionate level of health deterioration could be seen.