Role of the pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary team in the management of heart failure

This abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorBackground: There is emerging evidence that heart failure (HF) patients who receive pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary care have better clinical outcomes than those who do not. This study investigates the role of the pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary team in the management of HF in-depth. Methods: A multi-method triangulation of a systematic review and a retrospective cohort study was used. A retrospective analysis (n=1058) of two cohorts of chronic HF patients from a tertiary referral hospital comparing those attending a pharmacist-involved Multidisciplinary Ambulatory Consulting Service (MACS) with the General Cardiology Heart Failure Services (GCHFS) without the pharmacist was performed. Results: A meta-analysis (n=4447) showed a significant reduction (P<0.05) in HF hospitalisations and all-cause hospitalisations but no effect on HF mortality and all-cause mortality. The overall trend was an improvement in medication adherence and significant improvements in HF knowledge (P<0.05). Both the clinics had similar rates of guideline-based prescriptions of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and their maximum tolerated doses in HF with reduced and preserved ejection fraction (EF) patients. However, significantly lower (P