The Role of Pharmacists in Home Medical Care of Patients with Heart Failure

In recent years, home medical care has been strongly promoted. As a consequence, the conditions managed in home medical care have become increasingly diverse. Heart failure is one of the most common disorders after malignant diseases. Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) are often forced into hospitalization because of the inability to control symptoms with oral medications, even though they hope to stay at home. Recently, we have experienced a case where the patient required continuous administration of dobutamine at home. In order to carry out CHF care at home successfully, it is necessary to adjust the doses of catecholamine and furosemide swiftly in response to changes in patients' conditions. In this case, the patient was able to spend four months at home thanks to the cooperation of a team of a physician, nurses, and pharmacists. Catecholamine-dependent patients with terminal CHF require expensive medical infusion pumps for precise administration. However, the economic assistance to such patients remains insufficient. Furthermore, dobutamine and furosemide injections are not dispensed extramurally, and therefore might become an impediment to the cooperation of the team. In this symposium, I consider and discuss the role of pharmacists in a home medical care team for patients with terminal CHF.