Initiation of pharmacist-psychiatrist collaborative patient education in ambulatory care settings of a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India

Abstract

The aim of this study is to initiate the pharmacist-psychiatrist collaborative patient education in ambulatory care settings. A prospective cohort study was conducted in psychiatry out-patient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of 6 months. All the eligible patients were enrolled, and the necessary information was collected. The collected data were analyzed for medication adherence by using medication adherence rating scale and health-related quality of life by using the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire. Student t-test was used to analyze the results at p-value < 0.05. A total of 210 patients were analyzed and followed for a period of 6 months. When compared to the baseline values, a significant improvement in medication adherence and quality of life with each follow-up at p-value < 0.05 was observed. The study results have evidently proven that pharmacist-psychiatrist collaborative approach could significantly improve patient education and related clinical outcomes.