Impact of community pharmacy-based educational intervention on patients with hypertension in Western Nepal

Background There is a paucity of data regarding the feasibility and impact of community pharmacy-based educational interventions on the management of chronic diseases in developing countries. AimsThe aim of this study was to establish the feasibility, and to investigate the impact, of community pharmacy-based educational intervention on knowledge, practice, and disease management of patients with hypertension in Western Nepal.MethodA single-cohort pre-/post-intervention study was conducted from August 2012 to April 2013. The participants included in the study were patients diagnosed with hypertension attending a pharmacist-led hypertension clinic. The educational intervention was conducted by pharmacists, was individualized, and consisted of three counseling sessions over a period of six months. The patients’ knowledge of hypertension, their practice of lifestyle modification and non-pharmacological approaches concerning hypertension management, and blood pressure were assessed at baseline and again after 9 months by using a pre-validated questionnaire. ResultsFifty patients met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. The median (IQR) knowledge score changed from 6 (4) to 13 (0) after the intervention (