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Journal de Pharmacie Clinique

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How the community pharmacist contributes to the multidisciplinary management of rheumatoid arthritis Volume 28, issue 1, janvier-février-mars 2009

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Authors
Pôle pharmaceutique, CHU de Besançon, EA 4267-UFR-133, Faculté de médecine et pharmacie de Besançon, Association nationale de défense contre l’arthrite rhumatoïde (Andar), Besançon, Service de rhumatologie, CHU de Besançon

Introduction: a multidisciplinary approach to managing patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is now recommended. The aim of this study is to define how the community pharmacist contributes to the management of this disease by exploring the type of service he provides to patients and by assessing what patients expect from him. Material/method: two questionnaires were sent to pharmacists of the Franche-Comté region and to patients of ANDAR and to patients attending multidisciplinary consultations of Besançon university hospital. Results: the 72 pharmacists participating in this survey (33.8%) felt that they had a role to play in dispensing drugs (98.6%), providing medical equipment (91.7%), educating patients about their treatment (87.5%) and providing moral support (79.2%). On the other hand, only 44.4% of them considered that they should inform patients about their illness and 36.1% about support associations. University training in this area during formal pharmacy studies is considered either “insufficient” or “very insufficient” in 70% of cases. Although 90.3% of the pharmacists think that additional training is necessary, only 37.5% had actually benefited from such training. Of the 135 patients (55.8%) who completed the questionnaire, 95.7% are on the whole “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their pharmacist. They contact their pharmacist mainly for information about treatment not requiring drugs, medical equipment, dietetics, herbal medicine and homeopathy. However, the pharmacist comes in third position only, behind specialists and general practitioners, for any request of information related to treatments requiring drugs. Patient’s three primary expectations regarding the pharmaceutical management of their disease are as follows: availability of brochures about rheumatoid arthritis, home delivery of drugs whenever necessary, and advice regarding specific medical equipment. Discussion/conclusion: in spite of biases, this study allowed us to assess the expectations of rheumatoid arthritis patients with regard to the pharmaceutical management of their disease, thus clarifying the indispensable contribution that pharmacists make in the management of this disease.