Objectives This study evaluated the long-term effect of pharmacist support on patient self-care ability, quality of life, drug therapy compliance, treatment goals, and adverse drug reactions in coronary heart disease patients receiving multi-drug therapy.

Methods Ninety patients were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=45) or a control group (n=45). The control group received conventional clinical care. The experimental group received clinical care plus pharmacist support that included medication review, patient education, lifestyle management, discharge guidance, and telephone follow-up. Treatment goals included blood pressure, rates of diabetes and dyslipidaemia, average heart rate and body mass index. Data were collected after admission, immediately before discharge, and 6 months after discharge.

Results Eighty-five patients completed the study. Upon discharge from hospital, the experimental group understood their condition better than the control group (p<0.05), and there were also significant differences between the groups in understanding treatment goals and drug regimens, health-promoting lifestyle modifications, psychogenic disorders, and satisfaction evaluations (p<0.01). At the 6-month follow-up, drug therapy compliance was significantly better in the experimental group compared to controls (93.39±6.56% vs 79.36±15.46%; p<0.01), as was the success rate by intention-to-treat (77.8% vs 48.9%) and per protocol (81.4% vs 52.4%). Two adverse drug reactions occurred in the experimental group and three occurred in the control group.

Conclusions Clinical pharmacist support improves self-care ability, quality of life, drug therapy compliance, and treatment success in coronary heart disease patients.