Incorporation of patient-reported outcomes into pharmacy and dermatology departments, in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis patients, as a tool to improve the healthcare quality and health outcomes

Introduction: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) provide subjective information about their disease, treatment, and quality of life. Objective: To introduce a new system of work coordinated between pharmacists and dermatologists, based on the collection and analysis of PROs to assess its clinical impact as well as patients satisfaction. Method: A prospective single-centre observational study was conducted under clinical conditions and included adult patients diagnosed with psoriasis (PS) and atopic dermatitis (AD) between April-2021 and February-2022. Pharmacists and dermatologists agreed on this systematic work. A REDCap (R) database was designed to facilitate data collection and the subsequent analysis. Results: A total of 288 and 41 patients with PS and AD, respectively, were included. Those who started treatment showed significant improvement with a decrease in PROs and clinical parameters (p < 0.001). The pharmacist made 168 and 7 recommendations to dermatologists for PS and AD patients, respectively, of which 66.07% and 57.1% were accepted. The most common recommendations were <double left angle bracket>consult with rheumatologist >> (20.83%), << extend drug regimen >> (19.64%) and << consider change in treatment >> (11.90%). Adverse events were reported in 55 and 17 patients with PS and AD, respectively. Of 103 patients, 75% were << very satisfied >> and 20% << satisfied >> with the system. Conclusions: This new working system helps to evaluate the short and long-term effectiveness of treatments and also to identify adverse events, alarm symptoms and co-morbidities in order to optimize therapies. Collaboration between pharmacists and dermatologists reduces decision-making time and patients appreciate better clinical care leading to higher patient satisfaction.