Clinical trial NCT02170883: EmPhAsIS: Empowering Pharmacists in Asthma Management Through Interactive SMS
Official title: EmPhAsIS: Empowering Pharmacists in Asthma Management Through Interactive SMS
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Asthma
Keywords: asthma
mHealth
cluster randomized controlled trial
pharmacy practice
pharmacist
Lead sponsor: University of British Columbia
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: WelTel
name: College of Pharmacists of British Columbia
name: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
First posted: 2014-06-23
Enrollment: 271
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Between 8% and 12% of Canadians suffer from asthma. Although there are effective and inexpensive treatments, adherence to asthma treatment is amongst the lowest for all chronic diseases.The purpose of this study is to determine whether enhancing the role of community pharmacists in asthma management using interactive short messaging service (SMS) with asthma patients is a cost-effective model that will improve adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medications compared to usual care.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* individuals who fill a (incident or prevalent) prescription for inhaled corticosteroids (either monotherapy or in combination inhaler with long-acting beta-agonists) who have been diagnosed by a doctor as having asthma
* possessing a cell-phone with ability to send/receive text messages
* residing in British Columbia (BC), Canada and planning to reside in BC for the next 12 months
* registered with the medical services plan (MSP, the provincial insure of medically-required services) in the past 12 months, and planning to remain registered for the next 12 months
* designated pharmacy being the main drugstore for patient
* not participating in another interventional study
* consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Unable to communicate in English
* Under 14 years of age

Primary outcomes:
measure: Adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medication
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Asthma control
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Asthma control
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Asthma control
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire
timeFrame: 3 months
measure: Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Health care resource utilization
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Use of reliever medication for acute asthma attacks
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Vancouver
country: Canada
facility: UBC
state: British Columbia
Study officials:
affiliation: University of British Columbia
name: Mary De Vera, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: De Vera MA, Sadatsafavi M, Tsao NW, Lynd LD, Lester R, Gastonguay L, Galo J, FitzGerald JM, Brasher P, Marra CA. Empowering pharmacists in asthma management through interactive SMS (EmPhAsIS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2014 Dec 13;15:488. doi: 10.1186/1745-6215-15-488.