PHARMACISTS INTERVENTION FOR IMPROVING BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS BY PHARMACEUTICAL INTERVIEWS: IS FRANCE READY?

Objective: The French Society of Hypertension, in collaboration with the French Society of Clinical Pharmacy, published in 2016 a recommendation concerning the management of hypertension in pharmacies. Three years later, the objective of the study was to learn about pharmacist's daily practice regarding pharmaceutical interviews (PI) and their knowledge and vision of hypertension in PI. Design and method: 187 pharmacists practising in French pharmacies answered our self-questionnaire (10 questions), generated by Google Forms with an automatic recording of responses. Results: In this population, 62.5% (n = 117) of pharmacists perform PI (for anticoagulants and asthma) and more than half (60.7%)(n = 71) do not produce more than one per month. The shared medication assessment is carried out by 60.4% (n = 113) of them, 48.7% (n = 55) of whom no more than one per month. The existence of a PI recommendation for hypertension is unknown to most pharmacists (78.8%, n = 145). Although these PIs do not have an economic support in France, hypertension is considered very important for 80.7 % of the 151 respondents and 42.7 % (n = 79) of them estimate that 10 to 20 patients per month and per pharmacy could benefit from a PI for antihypertensive drugs. The majority of pharmacists surveyed (88.2%, or n = 165) are familiar with home blood pressure measurement (HBPM) and 75.5 % (n = 74) finds it interesting in their practice. According to them, the HBPM promotion in pharmacies could mainly help BP control (72.2%, n = 136) and patient adherence (72.2%, n = 135). Conclusions: Recent systematic review and meta-analysis have demonstrated that pharmacist interventions can significantly reduce the risk factors of cardiovascular such as hypertension. This pilot study confirms the need to disseminate more widely the recommendations for the practice of PI in hypertension, which remains unknown to a majority of pharmacists in France. HBPM known by the majority of pharmacists can be the key to improve BP control and adherence to treatment. Involving pharmacist as healthcare providers of multidisciplinary management of hypertension is no longer to be demonstrated but the effective economic model on which there involvement is based must be a priority for the BP control of patients.