Primary Care Providers' Acceptance of Pharmacists' Recommendations to Support Optimal Medication Management for Patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease.

Abstract

Background

Patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) often struggle with blood pressure control. In team-based models of care, pharmacists and primary care providers (PCPs) play important roles in supporting patients' blood pressure management.

Objective

To describe whether PCPs' acceptance of pharmacists' recommendations impacts systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 36 months.

Design

An observational analysis of a subset of participants randomized to the intervention arm of the Simultaneous risk factor control using Telehealth to slOw Progression of Diabetic Kidney Disease (STOP-DKD) study.

Participants

STOP-DKD participants for whom (1) the pharmacist made at least one recommendation to the PCP; (2) there were available data regarding the PCP's corresponding action; and (3) there were SBP measurements at baseline and 36 months.

Intervention

Participants received monthly telephone calls with a pharmacist addressing health behaviors and medication management. Pharmacists made medication-related recommendations to PCPs.

Main measures

We fit an unadjusted generalized linear mixed model to assess the association between the number of pharmacists' recommendations for DKD and blood pressure management and PCPs' acceptance of such recommendations. We used a linear regression model to evaluate the association between PCP acceptance and SBP at 36 months, adjusted for baseline SBP.

Key results

Pharmacists made 176 treatment recommendations (among 59 participants), of which 107 (61%) were accepted by PCPs. SBP significantly declined by an average of 10.5 mmHg (p < 0.01) among 47 of 59 participants who had valid measurements at baseline and 36 months. There was a significant association between the number of pharmacist recommendations and the odds of PCP acceptance (OR 1.19; 95%CI 1.00, 1.42; p < 0.05), but no association between the number of accepted recommendations and SBP.

Conclusions

Pharmacists provided actionable medication-related recommendations. We identified a significant decline in SBP at 36 months, but this reduction was not associated with recommendation acceptance.

Trial registration

NCT01829256.

Department

Description

Provenance

Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1007/s11606-019-05403-x

Publication Info

Zullig, Leah L, Shelley A Jazowski, Clemontina A Davenport, Clarissa J Diamantidis, Megan M Oakes, Sejal Patel, Jivan Moaddeb, Hayden B Bosworth, et al. (2020). Primary Care Providers' Acceptance of Pharmacists' Recommendations to Support Optimal Medication Management for Patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease. Journal of general internal medicine, 35(1). pp. 63–69. 10.1007/s11606-019-05403-x Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/28702.

This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.

Scholars@Duke

Zullig

Leah L Zullig

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Leah L. Zullig, PhD, MPH is a health services researcher and an implementation scientist. She is a Professor in the Duke Department of Population Health Sciences and an investigator with the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) at the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Dr. Zullig leads INTERACT, the Implementation Science Research Collaborative, and is co-leader of Duke Cancer Institute's cancer prevention and control program.

Dr. Zullig’s overarching research interests address three domains: improving cancer care delivery and quality; promoting cancer survivorship and chronic disease management; and improving medication adherence. Throughout these three area of foci Dr. Zullig uses an implementation science lens with the goal of providing equitable care for all by implementing evidence-based practices in a variety of health care environments. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications. 

Dr. Zullig completed her BS in Health Promotion, her MPH in Public Health Administration, and her PhD in Health Policy.

Areas of expertise: Implementation Science, Health Measurement, Health Policy, Health Behavior, Telehealth, and Health Services Research

Diamantidis

Clarissa Jonas Diamantidis

Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine
Bosworth

Hayden Barry Bosworth

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Dr. Bosworth is a health services researcher and Deputy Director of the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT)  at the Durham VA Medical Center. He is also Vice Chair of Education and Professor of Population Health Sciences. He is also a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Nursing at Duke University Medical Center and Adjunct Professor in Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests comprise three overarching areas of research: 1) clinical research that provides knowledge for improving patients’ treatment adherence and self-management in chronic care; 2) translation research to improve access to quality of care; and 3) eliminate health care disparities. 

Dr. Bosworth is the recipient of an American Heart Association established investigator award, the 2013 VA Undersecretary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research (The annual award is the highest honor for VA health services researchers), and a VA Senior Career Scientist Award. In terms of self-management, Dr. Bosworth has expertise developing interventions to improve health behaviors related to hypertension, coronary artery disease, and depression, and has been developing and implementing tailored patient interventions to reduce the burden of other chronic diseases. These trials focus on motivating individuals to initiate health behaviors and sustaining them long term and use members of the healthcare team, particularly pharmacists and nurses. He has been the Principal Investigator of over 30 trials resulting in over 400 peer reviewed publications and four books. This work has been or is being implemented in multiple arenas including Medicaid of North Carolina, private payers, The United Kingdom National Health System Direct, Kaiser Health care system, and the Veterans Affairs.

Areas of Expertise: Health Behavior, Health Services Research, Implementation Science, Health Measurement, and Health Policy


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