Pharmacist‐led cardiovascular risk prevention in Western Canada: a qualitative study

Cardiovascular Assessment and Medication Management by Pharmacists at the UBC Site (CAMMPUS) is a unique multi-year collaboration between the UBC Pharmacists Clinic and UBC HR’s Health, Wellbeing & Benefits.

The CAMMPUS project focuses on improving the cardiovascular heart health of UBC Vancouver faculty and staff. It is also the first prospective study of its kind to demonstrate the benefit of pharmacists in a Canadian workplace-based, cardiovascular disease risk reduction program.

In their final publication on qualitative results, preceded by the quantitative results, participant perceptions and participant productivity results, research team aimed to explore and understand experiences of UBC employees taking part in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk management program that included medication management delivered by pharmacists.

Key findings

The study highlights the role of pharmacists in reducing CVD risk among employees and the importance of workplace health promotion. Participant experiences of pharmacist-led CVD prevention can be summed into four themes:

1. Self-efficacy: An increase in awareness and knowledge about their overall health or specific medical condition helped participants improve their health and make lifestyle related changes.

2. Pharmacist’s Interpersonal Skills: Supportive communication, and safe and confidential setting created positive relationships between participants and their pharmacists and empowered participants to act to prevent CDV.

3. Enabling Factors: Access to external resources provided by the university such as subsidized gym membership and access to diet counselling, as well as UBC Travelling health clinics helped participants manage and address their CVD risk.

4. Programme impact: Excellent service of the pharmacists and staff, positive changes to lifestyle, improved clinical measures and gratitude for study participation opportunity were the unintended benefits.

It is interesting to note that cultural norms and factors impact diet and lifestyle choices which affects the self-efficacy.  According the researchers “future pharmacist‐led interventions should incorporate cultural competency and fundamental determinants of health behaviors” (Kapanen, Conklin, Gobis, Leung, Yuen, and Zed, 2020).

Visit CAMMPUS, Traveling Health Fair and Virtual Healthcare Online Assessments for more information and resources on maintaining your physical health.