An Evaluation of the Effect of Primary Care Pharmacist Interventions on Patients with Chronic Pain

Abstract

Background: Chronic pain is a common condition that has significant impact on patients’ physical and psychological well-being. Pharmacotherapeutic management of chronic pain differs on the basis of the cause pain. Pharmacists’ expertise of pharmacological knowledge and patient care make them key players in managing chronic pain. Methods: A three-month prospective pilot study was carried out at primary care settings including community pharmacies and family health teams. Patients were seen by pharmacists at the initial visit, 2-week follow-up, and 3-month follow-up visit. Pharmacists’ interventions consisted of patient assessments, medication reviews, care plan recommendations, and patient education. Pain, quality of life, and medication adherence were measured with Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), Short Form-36, and Morisky Medication Adherence Scales-8, respectively. Results: Thirteen patients were enrolled, one withdrew. There was no significant improvement in pain or quality of life at 3-month follow-up. However, trends toward improvement were found. Conclusions: This study showed that interventions of primary care pharmacists had no significant effect on pain or quality of life of patients with chronic pain. However, positive trends towards reducing pain intensity and pain interference with patients’ general activity, mood, normal work, and sleep were found. The reason for this could be due to small sample size, low implementation rate of pharmacist recommendations by physicians, low patient adherence, or extended study period.