Purpose: We hypothesize that patients referred to a clinical pharmacist for comprehensive outpatient management will be more complex than populations with advanced cardiovascular disease (CVD) described in the literature.� A retrospective study will be conducted to examine the characteristics of patients referred to a pharmacist-managed cardiovascular clinic by a hospital-based, private cardiologist group.�� Characteristics of the referred population were then compared with characteristics of other advanced CVD populations (e.g., heart failure [HF]) in the literature.
Methods: A pharmacist-managed cardiovascular clinic was initiated in a private cardiovascular clinic in January 2012 and is open to referral by cardiologists.� All patients seen by the clinical pharmacist are entered into an Excel database (referring provider, referral authorizations, date of visit, patient characteristics, co-morbidities, and medications); descriptive analysis on this database for patients seen January 1, 2012 through September 30, 2012 will be presented.� A comparison with other populations with advanced CVD described in the literature will also be presented. ��
Results: Forty-eight patients have been analyzed to date (January 1, 2012 � May 31, 2012).�
Patient Characteristics | Pharmacist Clinic (N=48) | Advanced CVD populations in literature* (N= 63176) |
Mean age, years (SD) | 68.1 (� 11.1) | 61-62 |
Male, No (%) | 23 (48%) | 28%-42% |
Hypertension, No (%) | 42 (88%) |
|
HF, No (%) | 40 (83%) |
|
Coronary artery disease (CAD), No (%) | 32 (67%) |
|
HF plus CAD, No (%) | 29 (60%) |
|
HF or CAD, No (%) | 43 (90%) |
|
Mean medications per patient (SD) | 15.7 (� 5.7) | 7.4-10.4 |
*Advanced CVD = HF, CAD, or multiple risk factors for CVD |
Conclusions: This preliminary analysis shows that patients referred by specialized cardiovascular providers have highly complex CVD and significant polypharmacy.� �The extent of polypharmacy is greater than reported in populations with advanced CVD.� These data support inclusion of pharmacists in the management of patients with advanced CVD, even in addition to specialized care.�