Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania

Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases, and its care is often complex. In this research, we tested the proposal that participation of pharmacists in the management of bronchial asthma can improve patient outcomes. A two-stage study was constructed consisting of a tra...

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Main Authors: Arturas Nastaravičius, Kristina Ramanauskienė
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2018-01-01
Series:Canadian Respiratory Journal
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/6060581
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spelling doaj-74b0ad8535da45eb80ec6864ea523ca22021-07-02T02:57:17ZengHindawi LimitedCanadian Respiratory Journal1198-22411916-72452018-01-01201810.1155/2018/60605816060581Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in LithuaniaArturas Nastaravičius0Kristina Ramanauskienė1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Lithuania University of Health Sciences, LT-44307 Kaunas, LithuaniaDepartment of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Lithuania University of Health Sciences, LT-44307 Kaunas, LithuaniaBronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases, and its care is often complex. In this research, we tested the proposal that participation of pharmacists in the management of bronchial asthma can improve patient outcomes. A two-stage study was constructed consisting of a training element and a service element, using the Asthma Control Test and a structured questionnaire about the patients’ disease condition (based on the results of a qualitative study). The study was conducted in 21 pharmacies in Lithuania and involved 338 asthmatic patients (age 18–88 years). It was found that before the pharmacy service was provided, the average number of mistakes patients made in administration of asthma medications was 2.03; this number decreased to 1.12 after the service was provided (p<0.05). Disease control paralleled the improvement in number of mistakes: 26.1% of patients who previously exerted no control over the disease symptoms began to exert sufficient control over their asthma symptoms (Asthma Control Test >20) after the service was provided (p<0.05). The reduced number of mistakes probably can be attributed to the positive effects of the provided services. By reducing the number of patient mistakes, pharmacists may improve the outcomes of asthmatic patients.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/6060581
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Arturas Nastaravičius
Kristina Ramanauskienė
spellingShingle Arturas Nastaravičius
Kristina Ramanauskienė
Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania
Canadian Respiratory Journal
author_facet Arturas Nastaravičius
Kristina Ramanauskienė
author_sort Arturas Nastaravičius
title Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania
title_short Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania
title_full Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania
title_fullStr Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania
title_full_unstemmed Role of a Community Pharmacy Service in Care of Bronchial Asthma Patients in Lithuania
title_sort role of a community pharmacy service in care of bronchial asthma patients in lithuania
publisher Hindawi Limited
series Canadian Respiratory Journal
issn 1198-2241
1916-7245
publishDate 2018-01-01
description Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases, and its care is often complex. In this research, we tested the proposal that participation of pharmacists in the management of bronchial asthma can improve patient outcomes. A two-stage study was constructed consisting of a training element and a service element, using the Asthma Control Test and a structured questionnaire about the patients’ disease condition (based on the results of a qualitative study). The study was conducted in 21 pharmacies in Lithuania and involved 338 asthmatic patients (age 18–88 years). It was found that before the pharmacy service was provided, the average number of mistakes patients made in administration of asthma medications was 2.03; this number decreased to 1.12 after the service was provided (p<0.05). Disease control paralleled the improvement in number of mistakes: 26.1% of patients who previously exerted no control over the disease symptoms began to exert sufficient control over their asthma symptoms (Asthma Control Test >20) after the service was provided (p<0.05). The reduced number of mistakes probably can be attributed to the positive effects of the provided services. By reducing the number of patient mistakes, pharmacists may improve the outcomes of asthmatic patients.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/6060581
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AT kristinaramanauskiene roleofacommunitypharmacyserviceincareofbronchialasthmapatientsinlithuania
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