Pharmacists Play a Huge Role in Improving High Blood Pressure in Black Barbershops

On March 12, 2018, a wonderful trial was published showcasing just what pharmacists are capable of doing with managing chronic disease states while including a population of people that are underrepresented in pharmacist-led intervention trials.

This trial evaluated 319 black male patrons at 52 black-owned barbershops in California with a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg and higher. The intervention group were encouraged by barbers to obtain meetings with a specialty-trained pharmacist to receive intervention for their high blood pressure under a collaborative practice agreement with their respective physicians. The control group received encouragement from their barbers to undergo lifestyle modifications such as eating well, exercising and attending doctor appointments.

The primary outcome of the trial was systolic blood pressure reduction at 6 months.

At baseline the average systolic blood pressure was approximately 153 mm Hg in the intervention group and 155 mm Hg in the control group.

After 6 months… the intervention group average blood pressure was about 126 mm Hg with pharmacist led intervention, ultimately getting patients at their goal blood pressure range below 130 mm Hg, according to the new 2017 American hypertension guidelines.

This is TRULY significant (plus the P value was <0.05) and shows the impact a pharmacist can make especially, for managing high blood pressure in an underrepresented population. For reference, in the control group, the blood pressure fell to an average of 145 mm Hg, also showing the influence barbers can make in getting their clients to take charge of their health.

Pharmacists are heavily trained in school to know medications inside out, manage chronic disease states and medications for various conditions. This is more strong evidence showing our value and hopefully will be inspiration to create more collaborative practice agreements with physicians and show that together we can really make a difference.

To read more about this trial please click here.

— Ms Rx Geek