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.