Abstract
Role of community pharmacies for caring chronic disease patients together with primary care units is still new in Thailand. The objective of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of providing pharmaceutical
care in patients with diabetes mellitus and hypertension who got prescriptions refilled between
two accredited community pharmacies (the intervention group) and two primary care units (the
control group). The study was quasi-experimental design with a control group. The duration of the study
was between September 2008 - July 2011. The intervention group received the individual care each month
for 5 months by the community pharmacists and PharmD students. In the fifth month at the community
pharmacies, the patient medication record of each patient was reported back to the primary care units.
Blood pressure, blood sugar, drug related problems and patients’ satisfaction were recorded. There were
totally 59 eligible patients (28 and 31 patients in the intervention and the control group, respectively). The
proportions of patients who achieved target goals of blood pressure control and blood sugar control were
1.242 (OR 1.242; CI: 0.458-4.312) and – 0.675 (OR 0.675; CI: 0.174-2.653) when compared with the control
group. There was not different between groups. The community pharmacists mostly solved the drug
related problem of non-adherence in the treatment group (81.8 %) and made a referral to the primary care
units due to an adverse drug event (bradycardia was probably from atenolol). The treatment group was
highest satisfied with the relax feeling to talk to the pharmacists. The control group was highest satisfied
with the willing to comply for the next schedule. In conclusion patients received prescriptions refilled
from accredited community pharmacies have potential clinical benefits as received from the primary care
units. Patients in the treatment group had a high satisfaction to the pharmacists’ service
