Pharmacists play vital role in improving patient health shows biggest review of evidence to date

Pharmacists serving non-hospitalised patients, such as in general practices and community pharmacies, may achieve improvements in patient health outcomes according to the most comprehensive systematic review of the scientific evidence to date.This press release originally was posted on the University of Bath website.A team of researchers led by Professor Margaret Watson from the University of Bath, working with Cochrane, NHS Education Scotland, and the Universities of Aberdeen, Brunel, California and Nottingham Trent, reviewed 116 scientific trials involving more than 40,000 patients. They compared pharmacist interventions with the usual care or interventions from other healthcare professionals for a wide range of chronic conditions including diabetes and high blood pressure.Cochrane reviews assess evidence from as many studies as possible to draw the most reliable conclusions and are internationally recognised as the highest standard in evidence-based health care.In this review, 111 trials compared pharmacist interventions with usual care. The review authors found that patients in groups that received pharmacist interventions had better outcomes when it came to reducing blood sugar levels and blood pressure, but for others, such as hospital admissions and death rates, the effect was more uncertain although the general direction of effect was positive.  Blood sugar control is measured using a figure called HbA1c.   Overall, trials involving pharmacist interventions decrease...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news