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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.