Impact of Pharmacists’ Counseling on Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition characterized by the progressive loss of kidney function over a period of months or years. Hemodialysis is a process that removes metabolic wastes when the kidneys fail to do this work adequately. The present study was an attempt made to assess the impact of pharmacists’ counseling on quality of life (QoL) in patients undergoing hemodialysis in Justice K S Hegde Charitable Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka, India. Methods: It was a prospective, interventional study carried out for a period of 7 months in a university teaching hospital. A total of 60 patients undergoing hemodialysis were enrolled into the study who were categorized into intervention and control groups by block randomization method. Patients in the intervention group received counseling verbally along with the information leaflet, whereas the control group received the counseling only after the end of the study. The QoL of patients was assessed by using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire at the baseline and at final follow-up. Results: A total of 60 patients (30 patients in the intervention group and 30 patients in the control group) completed the study. A statistically significant difference in the mean domain score was found between the groups (P 0.05). In the study among the four domains, improvement was seen in both psychological (P < 0.01) and physical health (P < 0.05) domain. Conclusion: Education and counseling by clinical pharmacist in patients undergoing hemodialysis leads to clinically and statistically significant improvement in the QoL of hemodialysis patients in the intervention group as compared to that of control group. World J Nephrol Urol. 2014;3(4):143-150 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/wjnu188w