A pharmacist-physician team approach to managing hypertension is "highly effective," reports Archives of Internal Medicine.

Six community-based, family medicine residency clinics were randomized to be either intervention or control sites (some 400 patients with uncontrolled hypertension were enrolled). In the intervention group, clinical pharmacists were encouraged to assess patients' medication and blood pressure routinely, and they made in-person recommendations to physicians based on national guidelines. In the control group, pharmacists abstained from patient care but did answer physicians' general questions.

By 6 months, BP was under control in more patients at intervention versus control sites (64% vs. 30%). Mean BP was reduced by 20.7/9.7 mm Hg in the intervention group, possibly because more antihypertensive drugs were added, the authors say. Rates of adherence to national guidelines did not differ between the groups.

The authors say their results suggest that "clinics or health systems with clinical pharmacists should consider reallocation of duties to provide more direct patient management to significantly improve BP control."

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