Community Pharmacist Training-and-Communication Network and Drug-Related Problems in Patients With CKD: A Multicenter, Cluster-Randomized, Controlled Trial

Background Appropriate training for community pharmacists may improve the quality of medication use. Few studies have reported the impact of such programs on medication management for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Study Design Multicenter, cluster-randomized, controlled trial. Setting & Participants Patients with CKD stage 3a, 3b, or 4 from 6 CKD clinics (Quebec, Canada) and their community pharmacies. Intervention Each cluster (a pharmacy and its patients) was randomly assigned to either ProFiL, a training-and-communication network program, or the control group. ProFiL pharmacists completed a 90-minute interactive web-based training program on use of medications in CKD and received a clinical guide, patients' clinical summaries, and facilitated access to the CKD clinic. Outcomes Drug-related problems (primary outcome), pharmacists' knowledge and clinical skills, and patients' clinical attributes (eg, blood pressure and glycated hemoglobin concentration). Measurements Drug-related problems were evaluated the year before and after the recruitment of patients using a validated set of significant drug-related problems, the Pharmacotherapy Assessment in Chronic Renal Disease (PAIR) criteria. Pharmacists' questionnaires were completed at baseline and after 1 year. Clinical attributes were documented at baseline and after 1 year using available information in medical charts. Results 207 community pharmacies, 494 pharmacists, and 442 patients with CKD participated. After 1 year, the mean number of drug-related problems per patient decreased from 2.16 to 1.60 and from 1.70 to 1.62 in the ProFiL and control groups, respectively. The difference in reduction of drug-related problems per patient between the ProFiL and control groups was −0.32 (95% CI, −0.63 to −0.01). Improvements in knowledge (difference, 4.5%; 95% CI, 1.6%-7.4%) and clinical competencies (difference, 7.4%; 95% CI, 3.5%-11.3%) were observed among ProFiL pharmacists. No significant differences in clinical attributes were observed across the groups. Limitations High proportion of missing data on knowledge and clinical skills questionnaire (34.6%) and clinical attributes (11.1%). Conclusions Providing community pharmacists with essential clinical data, appropriate training, and support from hospital pharmacists with expertise in nephrology increases pharmacists' knowledge and reduces drug-related problems in patients with CKD who are followed up in clinics incorporating a multidisciplinary health care team.