Educational program to improve hypertension knowledge by a community pharmacist in a rural district in Indonesia

Introduction Public health services in a rural area of Indonesia, which are often understaffed and overcrowded, may not be able to provide adequate patient education leading to poor control of hypertension. Objectives To assess whether a community-based, structured patient education program provided by a community pharmacist can improve blood pressure in Indonesian hypertensive patients living in a rural area. Method A quasi-experimental study was conducted during February-April 2019 in Kranggan Sub-district, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Hypertensive patients from the community health center were identified and recruited into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a structured patient education program from a community pharmacist while the control group received regular follow-ups from the health center. The main outcome measure was hypertension knowledge as assessed by the Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS). Results A total of 96 patients were included in the study with 49 and 47 patients in the intervention and control groups, respectively. At week 8, patients in the intervention group had a significantly higher mean HK-LS than the control groups (18.9 +/- SD 2.9 vs 16.8 +/- SD 3.7, respectively; P < .001). Significantly more patients in the intervention group had an increase in the Morisky Green Levine Adherence Scale (MGL) compared with the control group (38.8% vs 14.9%; P = .024). Significant reduction in blood pressure from baseline was also observed in the intervention group. Conclusion Community pharmacist's interventions led to a significant improvement in hypertension knowledge among hypertensive patients living in a rural area of Indonesia.