Drug Counseling Clinical Trial
Official title:
Effect of Pharmacist Provided Drug Information Services After Hospital Discharge: Patient Satisfaction and Sense Of Security Regarding Drug Treatment.
Objective:
The aim of this study is to evaluate if offering drug counseling from a hospital pharmacy
increases patient satisfaction and sense of security regarding drug treatment after hospital
discharge.
Method and design:
This study was estimated to include 250 participants in a clinical randomized controlled
trial. The participants were included from the Acute Medical Ward and the Department of
Respiratory Medicine at Bispebjerg Hospital when discharged. The participants were randomized
to one of two groups with unequal sizes: the control (50 participants) or intervention group
(200 participants). This study used blocked randomization with block sizes of 5/10/15/20/25.
The control group received the normal care following the Danish standard procedure.
Participants in the intervention group also received the normal care but was also offered the
possibility to contact a hospital pharmacy department by phone or mail and ask questions
regarding drug-related issues.
Data for the primary outcome measures was collected 14 days after discharge through
structured phone interviews. An interview guide with a semi-structured questionnaire and
already validated questions were developed, pre-tested and optimized. The participants were
asked to answer open-ended questions, closed-ended question and rate statements or questions
on a five-point scale.
The participants in the control group were asked to answer 13 items (seven questions or
statements on a five-point scale, four closed-ended questions and two open-ended questions).
The participants in the intervention group who did not make any queries were asked the same
questions as the participants in the control group and additionally three closed-ended
questions. A total of 16 items.
The participants in the intervention group who made queries were asked the same questions as
the participants in the intervention group who did not make any queries and additionally five
questions on a five-point scale, four closed-ended and one open-ended question. A total of 27
items.
The effect of the drug counseling regarding patient safety was evaluated by a pharmaceutical
assessment in which it was assessed whether the drug counseling had potentially prevented a
drug-related problem.
Quantitative data from the phone interviews will be analyzed in Microsoft excel with
descriptive statistics and simple parametric statistics. An analysis will determine whether
there is a difference in the primary outcome measures.
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