Capsule Commentary on Zullig et al., Primary Care Providers’ Acceptance of Pharmacists’ Recommendations to Support Optimal Medication Management for Patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease

Excerpt

Zullig et al.¹ conducted an observational analysis of a subset of participants randomized to the intervention arm of the STOP-DKD clinical trial. The intent of the study was to describe whether primary care physicians’ (PCPs’) acceptance of pharmacists’ recommendations impacted systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 36 months from baseline. Participants in the intervention received monthly telephone calls with a pharmacist addressing health behaviors and medication management. The research pharmacists made recommendations to PCPs to aid in titration decisions. In all, they made 176 treatment recommendations for 59 participants, of which 61% were accepted by the PCPs. While there was a significant association between the number of recommendations and the odds of PCP acceptance, there was no association between accepted recommendations and SBP. …