Pharmacists' Interventions in Outpatient Care for HIV Infection Assessed by Patients

Pharmacists' interventions are considered to be important at the time of starting anti-HIV therapy or changing treatment in outpatient care for HIV infection. We conducted a questionnaire survey to clarify patients' assessments of pharmacists' interventions in outpatient care for HIV infection. The survey was conducted at seven AIDS treatment center hospitals in the Kinki region, and the analysis was performed on 112 patients receiving the initial treatment and 79 patients experiencing treatment change. Pharmacists' interventions were found to be helpful by 97.3％ of the initial treatment patients and 96.2％ of the treatment change patients; the former often found it helpful in understanding the “necessity of receiving drugs” and “failure in taking drugs and acquisition of resistance”, while the latter often found it helpful in understanding the “difference of the new drug from the previous one” and “side effects”. Pharmacists' interventions relieved anxiety in 89.3％ of the initial treatment patients and 89.9％ of the treatment change patients, and produced good overall effects such as “relieving anxiety as regards receiving drugs”, “facilitating communication with doctors”, and “reducing questions for doctors”. The survey results showed that pharmacists' interventions at the time of starting anti-HIV therapy or changing treatment met patients' needs and contributed to improving the quality of medical care, such as reducing patient anxiety and the burden on doctors.