Patients with epilepsy’s perception on community pharmacist’s current and potential role in their care

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted surveying patients with epilepsy about the current and potential role community pharmacists play/could play in their care. Seventy-five patients (mean age=38.9 years, 66% female) were enrolled, either from the outpatient epilepsy clinic or from the local Epilepsy Foundation database. Patients were asked a series of questions about six aspects of their health care, as well as which of these aspects would be important to discuss with their pharmacist and what type of relationship they currently have/desire with their pharmacist. Results indicated that patients most commonly use their pharmacist for two aspects of their health care: drug interaction information (65%) and adverse effect information (56%). Fewer patients use their pharmacist for the four other aspects of their care: seizure frequency (13%), antiepileptic drug adherence (27%), medication profile (39%), and impact of their disease on their lifestyle (27%). Many patients want their pharmacist to be more involved in their health care, especially regarding drug interactions (76%), discussing adverse effects (74%), and maintaining a complete medication profile (61%). Patients also desired that their pharmacist communicate with their epileptologist about drug interactions (69%) and adverse effects (64%). Although many patients reported having a good relationship with their community pharmacist, a large concern was lack of privacy for holding conversations and lack of desire to pay for such pharmacy services if available. Overall, these results indicate that the majority of patients with epilepsy do not use their pharmacists to their full potential, yet certainly desire to do so, especially regarding drug interactions and adverse effects. Both pharmacists and patients should strive to form better partnerships that would allow them to take advantage of existing opportunities to enhance patient outcomes.