The impact on patients of pharmacist-conducted domiciliary COPD annual reviews: a qualitative study

Ballantyne, Susan Johnstone

Abstract

Introduction
Globally, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the most important non-communicable diseases with a progressive downhill course.1 Guidelines recommend regular review of patients with COPD.2 In the UK traditionally, annual COPD reviews were held in the GP surgery with no provision for those who could not attend. It was thought that practice pharmacists may be ideally placed to provide annual reviews for COPD patients by providing domiciliary visits.

Aims and Objectives
The objectives of this study were to offer a home COPD annual review conducted by a practice pharmacist to all housebound COPD patients who have not had an annual review in the last 15 months with a secondary review carried out four weeks later to review any changes and to undertake a semi-structured interview to discover patients’ thoughts and feelings regarding domiciliary pharmacist led COPD reviews.

Setting
The project was undertaken in the North East Glasgow HSCP where COPD is the fourth highest cause of early death.

Method
A phenomenological approach was taken in this project with mainly qualitative methodology data produced with some baseline quantitative data also being reported. Thematic analysis was conducted on the data produced by the interviews to identify themes and help develop appropriate services for housebound patients.

Key findings
A one-off domiciliary visit was not found to have a major effect on HRQoL however patient feedback showed that home COPD annual reviews conducted by a practice pharmacist were found to be a positive experience with patients satisfied with the home setting, enjoyed the social contact, and interaction with a health care professional.

Conclusion
This study suggests that pharmacists working within primary care may improve medication outcomes for patients at risk of medication related problems. It also showed that pharmacists conducting domiciliary visits for chronic disease reviews were acceptable to patients.

Citation

Ballantyne, S. J. (2023). The impact on patients of pharmacist-conducted domiciliary COPD annual reviews: a qualitative study. (Thesis). Keele University

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2023
• Award Date: 2023-10