Implementation Evaluation of an Interprofessional Programme (Siscare) for Supporting Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in a primary care setting

Background: In 2016, the Swiss government decided to back the implementation of an interprofessional patient support programme to redefine and extent the pharmacist's role in primary care. The programme, called Siscare, includes regular motivational interviews by pharmacists; medication adherence, patient-reported, and clinical outcomes monitoring; and pharmacist-physician interactions. Objective: To assess, from a pharmacy team's perspective, the implementation of Siscare for patients with type 2 diabetes taking at least one oral antidiabetic treatment, followed for 15 months, in a primary care setting of the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Methods: This prospective, multicentre, observational, cohort study used a hybrid implementation-effectiveness design and the Framework for the Implementation of Services in Pharmacy (FISpH). Quantitative and qualitative methods assessed outcomes at three levels (process, outcomes and impact) at each stage of the implementation process (exploration, preparation, operation, sustainability). Results: An advisory board with 10 representatives of key national stakeholders committed to supporting the study and 41 pharmacies were trained for Siscare. Of these, 33 (80%) had at least one of five implementation strategies in place 12 weeks after the start of patient inclusion and 27 (66%) have included >= 1 patient; mean inclusion per pharmacy: 8 (SD 6) patients [range: 1-29] with a total of 212 patients. Nine pharmacies (22%) met the target of 10 patients. An ordered three-step process of the implementation was observed in pharmacies: internal organisation, preparation of interprofessional practice, and relationship building with patients. Influencing factors were pharmacists' skills in motivational interviewing, support from pharmacy owners, preexisting local interprofessional networks, and profitability of the programme. Conclusions: This implementation evaluation supports the feasibility and acceptability from the pharmacy team's perspective of Siscare. The programme's implementation on a wider scale is still difficult due to the inertia inherent in any fundamental change in practices and the economic-political uncertainties influencing the actors in primary care.