Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 18;24(1):1560.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-12057-x.

Feasibility of a Pharmabuddy Care Service for patients with Parkinson's disease

C C M Stuijt  1 , F Karapinar-Çarkit  2   3 , C van de Steeg-van Gompel  4 , T van Laar  5   6 , B J F van den Bemt  7   8 , M Heringa  4
Affiliations

Feasibility of a Pharmabuddy Care Service for patients with Parkinson's disease

C C M Stuijt et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Pharmaceutical care for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is complex. Specialized pharmaceutical care provided by a dedicated pharmacy team member (pharmabuddy) for these patients may reduce medication-related problems. The feasibility of this service for PD patients is unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of a Pharmabuddy Care Service (PCS) for PD patients in primary care pharmacies.

Methods: Pharmabuddies who offered PCS were invited to fill in a questionnaire to evaluate the feasibility of PCS. Patients received a patient questionnaire and were invited for an interview. Patient records provided information on medication-related problems and interventions. Feasibility was evaluated conform four domains of Bowen's Framework. First, acceptability included patients' satisfaction ratings and experiences, Pharmabuddy impression on start and continuation of the service. Second, demand included use by patients and provision by pharmabuddies. Third, implementation/practicality: implementation indicators and barriers and facilitators from patient- and pharmabuddy perspective and fourth limited efficacy: effect of the PCS on PD symptoms, medication related problems identified and interventions from patient records.

Results: Twenty-three (59%) patients completed the questionnaire, 9 were interviewed, 12 (67%) pharmabuddies responded. Acceptability was high among patients (mean 9.5 (SD 1.3) out of 10), 6 (50%) pharmacies (still) provided PCS. Demand: 56% of patients had 1-2 contact moments, 28% two or more. Ten pharmacies provided up to 14 patients per pharmacy with PCS, one up to 24. Implementation/practicality: important barriers were time constraints and perception of other healthcare professionals. Positive reactions from patients encouraged pharmabuddies to carry out their PCS-activities. Patients were positive about pharmabuddy's listening competency while knowledge could be improved. Limited efficacy: from patient records, 89 interventions were made in response to 93 (median 3 per patient (range 1-16)) medication related problems or questions, with 20 (87%) patients reporting a positive effect from their interaction with a pharmabuddy.

Conclusion: This study shows PCS is highly appreciated by responding patients and can be feasible for primary care pharmacies. Several implementation issues are still present. Future studies should focus on quantifiable effects of PCS services as well as resource and perception hurdles.

Keywords: Specialized pharmaceutical care, Parkinson's disease, Implementation & education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The Medical Ethics Review Board of the University Medical Centre Utrecht concluded that this study did not require WMO approval, because it is not about clinical research with human participants as intended by the Dutch Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act. Therefore, Human Ethics and Consent to Participate declarations is not applicable. Consent to Participate declaration: patients gave informed consent for the interviews and they were also asked to consent the recording of the interviews. Questionnaires and patient records were anonymized and stored on protected servers. The authors declare all methods were carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Dorsey ER, Bloem BR. The Parkinson pandemic—a call to action. JAMA Neurol. 2018;75:9. - PubMed
    1. Tenison E, Henderson EJ. Multimorbidity and frailty: tackling complexity in Parkinson’s disease. J Parkinsons Dis. 2020;10:S85-91. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Federatie van Medisch Specialisten. Multidisciplinaire richtlijn ziekte van Parkinson. Alphen a/d Rijn: Van Zuiden Communications; 2020. https://richtlijnendatabase.nl/richtlijn/ziekte_van_parkinson/startpagin....
    1. Willson MN, Greer CL, Weeks DL. Medication regimen complexity and hospital readmission for an adverse drug event. Ann Pharmacother. 2014;48:26–32. - PubMed
    1. McLean G, Hindle JV, Guthrie B, Mercer SW. Co-morbidity and polypharmacy in Parkinson’s disease: insights from a large Scottish primary care database. BMC Neurol. 2017;17:126. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources