Characteristics of patients referred for comprehensive cardiovascular management by a pharmacist

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.�