Community pharmacists have been earmarked to play a fundamental role in identifying patients with poorly controlled asthma who may not be visible or have access to other health care professionals, new Australian research shows.
A study published in the Journal of Asthma, involving 96 pharmacies in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, found trained community pharmacists were able to identify patients with poor asthma control, and to elicit factors contributing to their suboptimal asthma control.
Pharmacists with specialised asthma training enrolled 570 patients with doctor-diagnosed asthma who were considered at risk of poor asthma outcomes and carried out comprehensive assessments.
Of this sample, pharmacists identified 437 (77 per cent) patients as having poor asthma control after using a symptom and...
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