Background: There is evidence that heart failure (HF) patients who receive pharmacist care have better clinical outcomes.

Methods and results: English-language peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials comparing the pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary intervention with usual care were included. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library from inception through March 2017. Cochrane method for risk of bias was used to assess within and between studies. 18 RCTs (n = 4630) were included for systematic review, and 16 (n = 4447) for meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed a significant reduction in HF hospitalizations {odds ratio (OR) 0.72 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55-0.93], P = .01, I2 = 39%} but no effect on HF mortality. Similarly, a significant reduction in all-cause hospitalizations [OR 0.76, 95% CI (0.60-0.96), P = .02, I2 = 52%] but no effect on all-cause mortality was revealed. The overall trend was an improvement in medication adherence. There were significant improvements in HF knowledge (P<.05), but no significant improvements were found on health care costs and self-care.

Conclusions: The pharmacist is a vital member of a multidisciplinary team in HF management to improve clinical outcomes. There was a great deal of variability about which specific intervention is most effective in improving clinical outcomes.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	heart failure, hospitalization, meta-analysis, mortality, multidisciplinary team, pharmacist
Research Division:	Health Sciences
Research Group:	Public health
Research Field:	Preventative health care
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Evaluation of health and support services
Objective Field:	Evaluation of health outcomes
UTAS Author:	Whitehead, D (Dr Dean Whitehead)
ID Code:	139983
Year Published:	2019
Web of Science® Times Cited:	23
Deposited By:	Nursing
Deposited On:	2020-07-21
Last Modified:	2020-08-07
Downloads:	0