Grant: Operating Grant

Patients with chronic kidney disease are followed in predialysis clinic to slow down the progression of their disease and treat their co-existing health problems. These patients are usually elderly, have many diseases and take numerous medications prescribed by several physicians. Many problems related to their medication have been reported. Because community pharmacists are highly accessible and know all the medications taken by these patients, they are in a good position to help them. To optimise their work, the ProFiL program has been developed. It includes a web-training program and provides pharmacists with essential clinical information on their patients as well as access to a consultation service offered by clinicians with expertise in this field. Six predialysis clinics will participate in this study and recruit 429 patients, about 144 community pharmacies, and about 288 pharmacists. Patients and pharmacists assigned to the ProFil program will be compared to those assigned to the usual care. Each patient will be followed-up for one year and the quality of their medication use will be evaluated at the beginning and at the end of the study. It is expected that the use of medication will improve in patients followed by a ProFiL pharmacists. In our healthcare system, patients do not fully benefit from the professional competencies of community pharmacists even though they are among the most accessible primary healthcare providers. The ProFiL program is unique and designed to optimize the work of community pharmacists. It is simple and based mostly on resources that are already available. This model may be used as a reference model in the management of chronic diseases and may be applied to any other specialized clinics or medical clinics.