Abdullah Baharudin, Ramli Ramiza Ramza, Shukri Norasnieda Md, Mohamad Sakinah
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia.
Multidiscip Respir Med. 2021 Sep 3;16(1):775. doi: 10.4081/mrm.2021.775. eCollection 2021 Jan 15.
In primary care, general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists are at the frontline to identify, classify and manage patients suffering from allergic rhinitis (AR). The Allergic Rhinitis and its impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines aid clinicians in disease management by providing evidence-based recommendations. A recently published ASEAN primary care survey demonstrated that the awareness of ARIA guidelines was high among GPs but notably lower in pharmacists. Hence, this study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of a Boot Camp education initiative in bridging the unmet needs in pharmacist awareness and education.
The boot camp was organised as a virtual event. The participants answered the same questionnaire before (pre-assessment) and immediately after (post-assessment) the boot camp session. Statistical analysis was performed on the data paired between the pre- and post- assessments using SPSS v. 25.0 software.
The boot camp survey results showed that second-generation oral antihistamines and allergen avoidance are the most preferred options for AR treatment in pharmacy practice, irrespective of the disease severity. In both pre- and post-assessments, efficacy was ranked as the most important factor considered for choosing an antihistamine and which affects patient adherence. With the boot camp initiative, there was a statistically significant increase in awareness about the patient profiling tool (from 31.6% to 88.2%) and ARIA guidelines (from 40.4% to 91.2%) among the pharmacists (p<0.05). The proportion of pharmacists who were able to identify, classify and refer AR patients was significantly increased in post-assessment (p<0.05). Post the boot camp, among the proportion of pharmacists (91.2%) who were already aware of ARIA, a high percentage of them further agreed that ARIA guidelines were useful in identifying and treating patients with AR, as well as classifying AR, respectively (97.6%, 95.2%, and 93.5%).
Based on improvements in knowledge and understanding of disease management post assessment, the Allergic Rhinitis Boot Camp initiative is effective and relevant to pharmacy practice. Outreach programs like this reiterate the emphasis on patient compliance and importance of utilizing ARIA guidelines in pharmacy practice that facilitates better management of AR in primary care.
在初级医疗保健中，全科医生（GPs）和药剂师处于识别、分类和管理过敏性鼻炎（AR）患者的前沿。《过敏性鼻炎及其对哮喘的影响》（ARIA）指南通过提供循证建议，帮助临床医生进行疾病管理。最近发表的一项东盟初级医疗保健调查表明，全科医生对ARIA指南的知晓率较高，但药剂师的知晓率明显较低。因此，本研究旨在评估“新兵训练营”教育倡议在弥补药剂师在认知和教育方面未满足需求方面的有效性。
“新兵训练营”作为一次虚拟活动组织开展。参与者在训练营课程开始前（预评估）和结束后立即（后评估）回答相同的问卷。使用SPSS v. 25.0软件对预评估和后评估之间的配对数据进行统计分析。
“新兵训练营”调查结果显示，在药房实践中，无论疾病严重程度如何，第二代口服抗组胺药和避免接触过敏原是治疗AR最常用的方法。在预评估和后评估中，疗效均被列为选择抗组胺药时考虑的最重要因素，也是影响患者依从性的因素。通过“新兵训练营”倡议，药剂师对患者概况分析工具的认知（从31.6%提高到88.2%）和对ARIA指南的认知（从40.4%提高到91.2%）有统计学意义的显著提高（p<0.05）。在后评估中，能够识别、分类和转诊AR患者的药剂师比例显著增加（p<0.05）。在参加“新兵训练营”后，在已经知晓ARIA的药剂师比例（91.2%）中，很大比例的人进一步认同ARIA指南在识别和治疗AR患者以及对AR进行分类方面是有用的，分别为97.6%、95.2%和93.5%。
基于评估后疾病管理知识和理解的改善，“过敏性鼻炎新兵训练营”倡议是有效的，且与药房实践相关。这样的推广项目再次强调了患者依从性的重要性以及在药房实践中使用ARIA指南的重要性，这有助于在初级医疗保健中更好地管理AR。
