Patient-centered Pharmacist Care in the Hemodialysis Unit: a quasi-experimental interrupted time series study

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence to medications by patients requiring hemodialysis (HD) leads to unfavorable clinical outcomes. Limited data exist to demonstrate the effect of incorporating patient-centered interventions using concepts of medication therapy management and motivational interview by pharmacists on pharmacoadherence in patients requiring HD. Therefore, we assessed the impact of patient-centered pharmacist care on pharmacoadherence and its outcomes in patients requiring HD. METHODS: Adult patients who had received outpatient HD for at least 3 months were enrolled. The study was conducted from October 2016 to April 2017. Pharmacists interviewed the patients at month 1, 2, 4 and 6, and the intervention (comprehensive review) occurred at months 3 and 5. The primary outcome was the change in pharmacoadherence as assessed by pre-HD serum phosphate levels and the differences in the number of medications between patient’ self-report and medications records at the electronic healthcare records (EHRs). The secondary outcomes included changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), glycosylated hemoglobin levels, serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, and the prevalence and types of medication-related problems (MRPs). RESULTS: Seventy-two patients were enrolled. Their median age was 59 (interquartile range: 47–67.5) years, and 53% were men. Pre- and post-intervention pharmacoadherence, as indicated by serum phosphate levels and the differences in the number of medications between patient’ self-report and the medication records at the EHRs, did not significantly differ (p = 0.682 and 0.348, respectively). Mean SBP and mean LDL did not significantly change post-intervention. The median number of MRPs declined between Months 3 and 5 (p = 0.002): the prevalence of MRPs at Month 3 was 44.9% (95 confidence interval [CI]: 40.4–49.3) and decreased to 29.8% (95 CI: 25.6–34.3) at Month 5. Drug use without indication was the most frequent MRP (23.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Patient-centered pharmacist care did not result in significant changes in pharmacoadherence. However, its clinical utility as a tool to identify and mitigate MRPs in patients requiring HD is indisputable. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03576404 (retrospectively registered on July 3rd, 2018).