Heart failure prescribing quality at discharge from a critical care unit in Egypt: The impact of multidisciplinary care

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Date
2020-09-01
Authors
El Hadidi, Seif
Samir Bazan, Naglaa
Byrne, Stephen
Darweesh, Ebtissam
Bermingham, Margaret
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MDPI
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Abstract
Discharge prescriptions for heart failure (HF) patients may not adhere to the clinical practice guidelines. This study aimed to assess the impact of the clinical pharmacist as a member of a multidisciplinary team on the quality of prescribing to HF patients at discharge from a Critical Care Unit (CCU) in Egypt. This was a retrospective cohort study of HF patients discharged from the CCU between January 2013 and December 2017. Guideline Adherence Index (GAI-3) was used to assess guideline-directed prescribing at discharge. Multidisciplinary care was introduced to the CCU on 1 January 2016. The study included 284 HF patients, mean (±SD) age 66.7 ± 11.5 years, 53.2% male. Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction affected 100 patients (35.2%). At discharge, loop diuretics were prescribed to 85.2% of patients; mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists to 54.9%; angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers to 51.4%; and β-blockers to 29.9%. Population Guideline Adherence Index (GAI-3) was 45.5%. High-GAI was prescribed to 136 patients (47.9%). Patients with High-GAI were younger; less affected by chronic kidney disease and had fewer comorbidities than those without High-GAI. Prescription of β-blocker increased (24.1% vs. 38.6%, p < 0.001) and digoxin utilization decreased (34.7% vs. 23.7%, p < 0.049) after the introduction of the multidisciplinary care. The inclusion of a clinical pharmacist in the multidisciplinary care team may have a role in optimizing the prescribing of HF guideline-directed therapies at discharge from this setting.
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Keywords
Pharmacist , Heart failure , Multidisciplinary care , Guideline adherence , Guideline-directed medical therapy , Egypt
Citation
El Hadidi, S., Samir Bazan, N., Byrne, S., Darweesh, E. and Bermingham, M. (2020) 'Heart Failure Prescribing Quality at Discharge from a Critical Care Unit in Egypt: The Impact of Multidisciplinary Care', Pharmacy, 8(3), 159 (11 pp). doi: 10.3390/pharmacy8030159
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