Pulse check as a tool to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation in pharmacies in the Czech Republic - a pilot project

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to raise the awareness of atrial fibrillation (AF) and the importance of pulse check in Czech pharmacies as well as to point out further possibilities of developing consulting activities in pharmacies. METHOD: Our project was performed as part of a worldwide campaign during three weeks: Heart Rhythm Week (06/2017) and Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Week (11/2017, 11/2018). Pharmacies actively providing indi-vidual counselling offered manual pulse check to patients aged 40 years without chronic anticoagulant therapy. Whenever high risk of AF was observed, patients were referred to a physician for further evaluation. RESULTS: Pharmacists undertook pulse checks in 187 patients (mean age 59.0 ± 12.3 years; 70.6% women) in 14 participating pharmacies. The most common symptoms were fatigue (42.2%) and palpitations (20.9%), however, 40.6% of patients were asymptomatic. The mean heart rate was 73.2 ± 11.3 beats per minute (min. 51; max. 135) and irregular pulse was observed in 4.3% patients. The average CHA2DS2-VASc score was 2.0 ± 1.3. Eight (4.3%) patients were referred to a physician and in 5 patients (2.7%) the arrhythmia was diagnosed. CONCLUSION: Czech pharmacies have successfully adopted this campaign, are interested in continuity of the project and may thus contribute to raise awareness of AF.