DISCUSSION:
The current study was undertaken to evaluate whether the addition of
clinical pharmacist services to cardiac rehabilitation program versus
cardiac rehabilitation program alone can influence the inflammatory
marker high sensitivity C-reactive protein and echocardiographic
parameters.
The current study demonstrated that the implementation of clinical
pharmacist services in cardiac rehabilitation unit can improve the
inflammatory status in post-ACS patients represented by a significant
decrease in the level of hs-CRP in clinical pharmacist-provided services
group versus the control group. The clinical pharmacist-provided
services group also showed a significant decrease in the percent of
change in LVESV and LVEDV compared to the control group. However, there
was no statistically significant increase in the percent of change of
ejection fraction.
The benefits of clinical pharmacist-provided services in chronic disease
management have long been documented10. Clinical pharmacist
can optimize drug adherence, adjust drug doses and promote drug therapy
adherence. An important intervention of clinical pharmacist-provided
services is to educate patients about their disease and drugs which
might help improve the medication adherence. Hopefully, this evidence
will encourage the incorporation of clinical pharmacist in cardiac
rehabilitation programs. In our opinion, the addition of clinical
pharmacist to the already present services of the cardiac rehabilitation
including the exercise sessions may have a positive impact on the
post-ACS patients’ morbidity and mortality. Future studies are needed to
confirm the current results.