Impacts of Pharmacists-Managed Outpatient Clinic in patients with Hepatitis C virus infection: A Retrospective Study in China

Abstract

Abstract Objective Pharmacists are health care professionals who are actively involved in identifying and solving drug-related problems (DRPs) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, the effectiveness of pharmaceutical services at outpatient clinic for patients with HCV infection have not been reported in China. This study aims to describe and investigate the impacts of pharmacists-managed outpatient clinic in patients with HCV infection. Methods We conducted a descriptive and retrospective study between May 2020 and April 2022. In order to give full play to the efficacy of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), we established a referral process for HCV patients with DAAs. Doctors prescribed DAAs for HCV-infected outpatients, and then transferred them to the outpatient clinic managed by pharmacists. Pharmacists cooperated to complete the pharmaceutical monitoring of DAAs treatment for patients. The pharmacist conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the patient's medication and developed planned intervention measures based on identified DRPs. Results A total of 473 eligible patients participated in 851 pharmaceutical care. A total of 518 DRPs were identified (an average of 1.1 per patient). Treatment effectiveness (48.8%) was the most common DRP. The most commonly recommended intervention was changing the drug (18.3%). There were 97.1% patients accepting the interventions and 93.05% patients completely implemented. The overall sustained virologic response at week 12 posttreatment (SVR12) rate was 98.5% (466/473). The most cost-effective treatment was selected in 98.7% of patients. Conclusions We confirmed that pharmacists had a valuable role to perform pharmacy services for HCV-infected outpatients. The intervention of pharmacists is effective in solving the DRPs and saving drug costs.