Community pharmacist-driven interventions in COPD: improving knowledge, attitude and health status

Background: COPD is a chronic condition requiring care from a multidisciplinary team in which pharmacists play an important role. Aim: We aimed to evaluate the impact of structured pharmacist-patient counseling on patient’s knowledge, attitudes about medicines and the impact of COPD on patients’ health status. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in ten community pharmacies. Patients were counseled using detailed approach after completing validated questionnaires. The patients returned to a pharmacy for a follow-up after three months. Four validated questionnaires have been used to assess different aspects of patient’s knowledge about the disease, their attitudes about medicines and the impact of disease on patients’ health status: COPD Assessment Test (CAT), Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC), Bristol COPD Knowledge Questionnaire (BCKQ), and The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ). Results: Pharmacists recruited 83 COPD patients, from which 73 patients attended a follow-up visit. Before pharmacist intervention, the CAT median score was 20. After counseling, the CAT score decreased to 18 (p<0.05). The highest improvement in patient’s knowledge was observed for inhaled bronchodilators (28.2%), vaccination (25.8%), oral steroids (24.4%), and smoking (24.2%). The median score for necessity increased, whereas the harm and concern median scores considerably decreased (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results showed significant improvements in all aspects covered throughout pharmacist-patient counseling. Based on our results, proactive role of the pharmacist in the care of COPD patients may be beneficial to patients, to physicians and to healthcare: improving care, alleviating the strain on overloaded doctors with containing the costs.