Clinical & Experimental Cardiology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9880
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2155-9880
+44 1300 500008
Joseph Ikhleia and Stanley S Obazuaye
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Cardiolog
Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the patients/perceptions of the benefits of regular participation in pharmaceutical care services in the management of hypertension in the Edo State Hospitals Management Board, Central Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Method: In a cross sectional study, 287 systematically selected hypertensive patients attending consultant outpatient clinic in Central Hospital, Benin City were interviewed on the benefits of pharmaceutical care services they received from pharmacist,susceptibility to health ?related problems and threat reduction associated with regularly meeting with the pharmacist, using a validated structured interview format with reliability coefficient in the range of 0.79 to 0.87. Result: The patient rated medications supply and medication cost information provision as beneficial but rated patient education/counseling as fairly beneficial. However,patient monitoring, provision of nonmedication information and other specific information such as side effects, exercises, weight and blood pressure control were rated as ?not beneficial?. The sevices provided by the pharmacists in preventing/reducing health ?related problems were poorly rated. While the perceived benefits and threat reduction were not associated with age,sex and education of the patients or the type of medication taken, patients perceived a significantly lower chance of developing health ?related problems when they met with the pharmacists as compared to when they did not(P<0.001). Conclusion: Although the hypertensive patients studied perceived that pharmacists contribute to the reduction in hypertension-related problems, they do not currently benefit much from the level of services offered by the pharmacists. Therefore, pharmacists working in Central Hospital needs to develop and fully implement comprehensive pharmaceutical care and the Health Ministries should work in collaboration with the relevant professional bodies to ensure that there is effective pharmaceutical care services in all health-care facilities.