Pharmacist-Led Patient Education in Secondary Stroke Prevention: A Systematic Review.

Abstract

The recurrence rate of stroke, particularly ischaemic stroke, is considered high, which highlights the importance of secondary stroke prevention. Pharmacists are becoming increasingly involved in poststroke care. Ease of public access to community pharmacists provides opportunities for pharmacists to educate patients about the significance of secondary stroke prevention. The literature outlining comprehensive educational materials for stroke patients to prevent secondary stroke is still limited. This review aimed to obtain the details of the educational material presented by the pharmacist and to determine whether it led to positive outcomes-a comprehensive search involved PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library databases. The Joanna Briggs Institute's (JBI) critical appraisal techniques were utilised to analyse the quality assessment for all study categories. As many as 12 studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. There are seven main categories under which information on secondary stroke prevention education is presented: modifiable risk factors, medication therapy management (MTM), medication adherence, cardiovascular risk factors, stroke (disease state), patient engagement, and quality of life. Pharmacists, mostly in community settings, play an important role in managing stroke risk factors (blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein [LDL], and A1c), promoting medication adherence, preventing hospital readmissions, increasing the level of knowledge, and enhancing patient satisfaction, which showed a favourable effect on preventing stroke recurrence following the pharmacist's educational intervention.