Telephone follow-up by clinical pharmacists can improve treatment outcomes in patients with peptic ulcers: A prospective randomized study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pharmaceutical care by clinical pharmacists through telephone follow-up on the treatment outcomes in patients with peptic ulcers who had been discharged from the hospital. METHODS: A total of 120 patients with peptic ulcers discharged from the hospital were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group, with 60 patients in each group. The patients in the two groups received different services. RESULTS: A total of 108 patients with peptic ulcers were enrolled in this study, including 53 in the intervention group and 55 in the control group. This study showed that the Helicobacter pylori eradication rate (19/23, 82.61% vs 13/29, 44.83%), awareness of peptic ulcer disease, medication compliance, diet compliance, and life compliance in the patients in the intervention group were higher than those in the patients in the control group. The H pylori eradication group had higher follow-up scores than the noneradication group. Sex and body mass index (BMI) did not affect the results in either group, but age did. In the control group, younger patients scored higher than older patients, whereas in the intervention group, this difference disappeared for diet compliance and life compliance, and significant differences remained for awareness of basic knowledge regarding peptic ulcer (AOKPU) and medication compliance. CONCLUSION: As a form of clinical pharmaceutical care, telephone follow-up by clinical pharmacists is recommended for discharged patients with peptic ulcers because it can improve treatment outcomes after discharge.