2.2 Study design and setting
This was a retrospective cohort study conducted
in
a
pharmacist
outpatient clinic in a general hospital in Beijing, China. Consecutive
patients were enrolled from January 2016 to June 2018. Four pharmacists
from the hospital interviewed patients at the
pharmacist
outpatient clinic. The pharmacists
conducted a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s medication. These
three MTM pharmacists had completed training program accredited by the
American Pharmacists Association, with an average of 10 years of
hospital practice experience. The other pharmacist had a physician
certificate and was authorized to prescribe.
The inclusion criteria were patients aged ≥ 65 years and with chronic
diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (including hypertension,
hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease and heart failure) or diabetes,
osteoporosis, gout. Eligible subjects were performed with MTM services
by the pharmacists and had clinical data for at least 2 clinic visits
within a consecutive 12-month period after the first MTM visit. These
patients were assigned into two groups (pre-intervention group and
post-intervention group) based on the date when they accepted the first
MTM services in the pharmacist outpatient clinic.