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.