Oliver Joel Gona|Madhan Ramesh|Sunil Kumar Shambu
Assessment of Clinical Pharmacists' Assistance for Patients With Established Cardiovascular Diseases During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights From Southern India
JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research|JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research|JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research
objectives aimed assess clinical pharmacistinitiated telephonebased patient education selfmanagement support patients cardiovascular disease nationwide lockdown covid19 pandemic methods prospective singlecenter telephonebased crosssectional study conducted among patients cardiology department speciality clinic 1800bed tertiary care hospital southern india validated 8item clinical pharmacist aided oncall questionnaire two domains administered lockdown 15 march 8 june 2020 clinical pharmacistprovided educational assistance selfmanagement practices accordance guidelines indian council medical research icmr world health organization comparisons performed using sign test association responses analyzed using goodman kruskals gamma test tests twotailed p amplt 005 considered statistically significant results 1080 patients 907 consented response rate 839 574 9636 patients analyzed postintervention majority patients male 547 acute coronary syndrome nstemi 4210 stemi 3392 unstable angina 986 majority subjects least two comorbid conditions type ii diabetes 4833 hypertension 5011 rural population 825 selfemployed 431 middleclass economy 316 domain1 checklist awareness toward complications caused covid19 cardiovascular diseases z 19698 p 0000 importance universal safety precautions enhanced clinical pharmacist assistance z 8603 p 0000 z 21795 p 0000 domainii checklist significant improvement patients awareness toward fatal complications caused covid19 z 20543 p 0000 maintenance selfhygiene z 19287 p 0000 practice universal safety precautions z 16912 p 0000 selfisolation z 19545 p 0000 results study population varied baseline evaluation 417 n 907 postintervention 95 n 574 based literacy employment status economic status conclusions proactive role clinical pharmacists providing instructional services collaboration cardiologist pandemic circumstances increased patients understanding mitigated infection exposure among patients health care professionals also assuring continuity care patients established cardiovascular diseases