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Welcome to the PRxOACT Initiative
Pharmacist Hub


About the PRxOACT Initiative

The PRxOACT Initiative is a research project to test a new standard of pharmacy-led cardiovascular care. The PRxOACT Initiative empowers you to deliver evidence-based cardiovascular care in a way that meets quality indicators, engages your patients in shared decision making, and supports efficient documentation.
We are using the 'gold standard' of research design, a randomized controlled trial, to evaluate the effect of a primary care pathway intervention on patients' estimated risk for cardiovascular events. The PRxOACT Initiative will be implemented at over 100 community pharmacies across Alberta. Findings from this project will form the basis for a new framework for delivering high-quality medication reviews and generate evidence underscoring the value pharmacists provide in chronic disease management in the primary care setting.

About the Primary Care Pathway Intervention

To support your practice, our team has developed a web-based decision-support tool designed to help you reduce your patients’ cardiovascular risk, called Primary Care Pathways. Primary Care Pathways use a guideline- and evidence-based algorithm to provide individualized patient assessment, treatment, and education recommendations, and helps you document your care.

We have developed the PRxOACT Primary Care Pathway for cardiovascular risk reduction based on the findings of the RxEACH Trial (shown to reduce cardiovascular risk by 21%), the latest guidelines and literature, and multidisciplinary expert consensus.

Other Primary Care Pathways will be developed for:

  • Diabetes
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  • Influenza-like Illnesses

These Care Pathways are also planned to be evaluated in randomized trials. Stay tuned for more information over the coming months.

About the Team

The PRxOACT Initiative is run by the EPICORE Team at the University of Alberta. The EPICORE Team, led by Professor Ross Tsuyuki and Dr Yazid Al Hamarneh, has built an evidence base on pharmacist-led provision of cardiovascular care over the past 15 years.

 

These span several landmark trials (including the RxING Study, RxACTION Study, RxACT Study, RxEACH Trial, RxIALTA Study) involving over 1000 participants with a wide range of comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and inflammatory conditions. This evidence has been used to develop tools and resources to support the delivery of pharmacist-facilitated interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk, including the RxING Practice Tool, the EPI·RxISK™ Calculator, and the Hypertension Canada Professional Certification Program.

 

For more information about the EPICORE team, please click the link below:

www.epicore.ualberta.ca

Access the PRxOACT Education Modules

‘Act Today; Protect Tomorrow’