Evaluation of Home Medical Care Pharmacists’ Services by Physicians, Nurses, Care Managers, and Home Helpers: A Mail Survey

Abstract

Background: Home medical care has become a widely used and effective form of delivery for essential medical services. While it has been suggested that pharmacists can play an active role in home medical care, no study has been conducted that has accurately investigated the positive effects of pharmacists on home medical care or the influence pharmacists have on other medical professionals. The present study aimed to evaluate pharmaceutical care provided by home medical care pharmacists according to other medical professionals.Methods: A mail survey was distributed, and 222 individuals responded. All participants had previously participated in the delivery of home medical care. A stratified analysis was used to compare responses between groups who had collaborated with pharmacists in home medical care and those who had not. Customer satisfaction analysis was conducted to identify areas for improvement in home medical care.Results: Our results indicated the importance of pharmacists’ participation in home medical care teams. Specifically, pharmacists’ participation was associated with improving the management of medication storage by patients, providing explanations about how to take medicine, and reducing incidents or accidents related to taking medications. Further, the results indicated the need for pharmacists and other medical professionals to collaborate with each other.Conclusions: These findings indicate the value of pharmacists’ involvement in home medical care and the areas that can be improved. For example, pharmacists involved in home medical care could take a more active role in areas of medical care such as providing education on drug effects and the safe use of drugs.Ethical Considerations： This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Showa University School of Pharmacy (approval no. 211) and conducted in accordance with Japanese ethical guidelines for epidemiological research and the Declaration of Helsinki. All respondents provided informed consent prior to participation.