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Sponsored by: |
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) |
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Information provided by: | National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00632021 |
Many people who have recently left the hospital have difficulties managing their medications, and medication errors are common. Patients with low health literacy levels may have a particularly difficult time understanding medication dosing and instructions. This study will evaluate a literacy-focused program that provides educational assistance from pharmacists at the time of hospital discharge to people hospitalized with heart problems.
Condition | Intervention |
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Acute Coronary Syndrome Heart Failure |
Behavioral: Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease |
Study Type: | Interventional |
Study Design: | Health Services Research, Randomized, Double Blind (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor), Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study |
Official Title: | Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease |
Estimated Enrollment: | 862 |
Study Start Date: | April 2008 |
Estimated Study Completion Date: | October 2010 |
Estimated Primary Completion Date: | October 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure) |
Arms | Assigned Interventions |
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1: No Intervention
Patients will receive usual care at hospital discharge, which generally includes physician reconciliation of medications and a nurse-provided explanation of how to take medications at the time of discharge.
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2: Experimental
Participants will receive pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, pharmacist counseling prior to discharge, a follow-up telephone call 1-4 days after discharge, and additional telephone support as needed.
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Behavioral: Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease
Before hospital discharge, a pharmacist will provide medication reconciliation and counseling on how to take medications. Participants will receive a follow-up phone call 1 to 4 days after hospital discharge to discuss any medication problems, and additionally as needed.
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After hospital discharge, many people experience difficulty in managing their medication regimens. This can be due to medication dosing changes, challenges in adjusting new medications with those that were taken previously, inadequate discharge instructions from hospital personnel, and inadequate follow-up. Difficulty with medication management can lead to medication errors that result in harmful side effects, poor disease control, hospital readmission, or even death. People with low health literacy often have greater difficulty with understanding and managing their medication regimens and as a result they experience more medication use errors. Although research shows that many medication errors could be prevented or lessened through improved doctor communication and patient-centered treatment programs, little research has been done on the effectiveness of such programs among low-literacy patients or of such programs during key transition times like hospital discharge. Getting pharmacists involved with patient care before hospital discharge may prevent unnecessary and dangerous medication errors from occurring once patients leave the hospital. Because of the severity of heart conditions and the likelihood of serious adverse effects from non-compliance with heart medications, this study will evaluate people admitted to the hospital for acute coronary syndromes or heart failure. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a health literacy-focused, pharmacist-delivered program at reducing medication errors in heart patients during the first month after hospital discharge.
This study will enroll people admitted to the hospital who have acute coronary syndromes or heart failure.
Participants will be randomly assigned to either the pharmacist-delivered program or usual care. Participants assigned to the intervention group will receive a pharmacist-assisted medication review while in the hospital, counseling from a pharmacist at the time of hospital discharge, a low-literacy education tool that details the discharge medications, a follow-up phone call 1 to 4 days after discharge, and additional phone calls as needed.
Participants receiving usual care will receive a doctor-assisted medication review and nurse-provided guidance on medication usage at the time of hospital discharge. Approximately 30 days after hospital discharge, study researchers will call all participants to collect information on serious medication errors, health care utilization, and disease-specific quality of life.
Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older |
Genders Eligible for Study: | Both |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Contact: Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc | 615-936-3525 | sunil.kripalani@vanderbilt.edu |
Contact: Courtney Cawthon, MPH | 615-936-1785 | courtney.cawthon@vanderbilt.edu |
United States, Massachusetts | |
Brigham and Women's Hospital | Recruiting |
Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115 | |
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey L. Schnipper, MD, MPH | |
United States, Tennessee | |
Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Recruiting |
Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37232 | |
Principal Investigator: Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc |
Principal Investigator: | Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc | Vanderbilt University |
Principal Investigator: | Jeffrey L. Schnipper, MD, MPH | Brigham and Women's Hospital |
Responsible Party: | Vanderbilt University ( Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, Principal Investigator ) |
Study ID Numbers: | 539, R01 HL089755-01 |
Study First Received: | March 6, 2008 |
Last Updated: | July 16, 2009 |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00632021 History of Changes |
Health Authority: | United States: Federal Government |
Low Health Literacy Medication Errors Cardiovascular Disease Pharmacist Care Transition |
Heart Failure Heart Diseases Myocardial Ischemia |
Acute Coronary Syndrome Vascular Diseases Ischemia |
Heart Failure Pathologic Processes Disease Heart Diseases Myocardial Ischemia |
Syndrome Acute Coronary Syndrome Vascular Diseases Cardiovascular Diseases |