Acute Coronary SyndromePILL-CVDNCT00632021
Pharmacist Intervention to Decrease Medication Errors in Heart Disease Patients (The PILL-CVD Study)
A study testing Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease in people with Acute Coronary Syndrome and Heart Failure, run by Vanderbilt University Medical Center at 2 sites in United States.
Trial summary
Many people who have recently left the hospital have difficulties managing their medications, and medication errors are common. Patients with low health literacy levels may have a particularly difficult time understanding medication dosing and instructions. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Acute Coronary Syndrome, Heart Failure
- What is being tested?
- Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 862 participants
- Where
- 2 sitesUnited States
- Study dates
- May 2008to Mar 2012
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Admitted to a participating study hospital
- Diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes or heart failure
Who cannot join
- Too ill to participate
- Corrected visual acuity worse than 20/200
- Severe hearing impairment
- Patient is not being discharged to their home
- No regular telephone number
- Not fluent in English or Spanish
Show all 12Show fewer
- Unintelligible speech
- In police custody
- Caregiver manages all medications
- Delirium or severe dementia
- Psychotic illness
- Already participating in a conflicting study
Trial locations and contacts
2 sites in 1 country.
United States2 sites
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, 02115
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tennessee, 37232
About this study
Official title: Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease
Many people who have recently left the hospital have difficulties managing their medications, and medication errors are common. Patients with low health literacy levels may have a particularly difficult time understanding medication dosing and instructions. This study will evaluate a literacy-focused program that provides educational assistance from pharmacists at the time of hospital discharge to people hospitalized with heart problems.
Read the detailed description
After hospital discharge, many people experience difficulty in managing their medication regimens. This can be due to medication dosing changes, challenges in adjusting new medications with those that were taken previously, inadequate discharge instructions from hospital personnel, and inadequate follow-up. Difficulty with medication management can lead to medication errors that result in harmful side effects, poor disease control, hospital readmission, or even death. People with low health literacy often have greater difficulty with understanding and managing their medication regimens and as a result they experience more medication use errors. Although research shows that many medication errors could be prevented or lessened through improved doctor communication and patient-centered treatment programs, little research has been done on the effectiveness of such programs among low-literacy patients or of such programs during key transition times like hospital discharge. Getting pharmacists involved with patient care before hospital discharge may prevent unnecessary and dangerous medication errors from occurring once patients leave the hospital. Because of the severity of heart conditions and the likelihood of serious adverse effects from non-compliance with heart medications, this study will evaluate people admitted to the hospital for acute coronary syndromes or heart failure. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a health literacy-focused, pharmacist-delivered program at reducing medication errors in heart patients during the first month after hospital discharge.
This study will enroll people admitted to the hospital who have acute coronary syndromes or heart failure. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the pharmacist-delivered program or usual care. Participants assigned to the intervention group will receive a pharmacist-assisted medication review while in the hospital, counseling from a pharmacist at the time of hospital discharge, a low-literacy education tool that details the discharge medications, a follow-up phone call 1 to 4 days after discharge, and additional phone calls as needed. Participants receiving usual care will receive a doctor-assisted medication review and nurse-provided guidance on medication usage at the time of hospital discharge. Approximately 30 days after hospital discharge, study researchers will call all participants to collect information on serious medication errors, health care utilization, and disease-specific quality of life.
- Conditions
- Acute Coronary Syndrome, Heart Failure
- Being tested
- Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease
- Keywords
- Low Health Literacy, Medication Errors, Cardiovascular Disease, Pharmacist, Care Transition
- Medical subject headings
- Acute Coronary Syndrome, Heart Failure, Cardiovascular Diseases
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular DiseaseBehavioural
Before hospital discharge, a pharmacist will provide medication reconciliation and counseling on how to take medications. Participants will receive a follow-up phone call 1 to 4 days after hospital discharge to discuss any medication problems, and additionally as needed.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No intervention | Patients will receive usual care at hospital discharge, which generally includes physician reconciliation of medications and a nurse-provided explanation of how to take medications at the time of discharge. |
| 2 | Experimental | Participants will receive pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, pharmacist counseling prior to discharge, a follow-up telephone call 1-4 days after discharge, and additional telephone support as needed. Receives: Behavioral: Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Number of Serious Medication Errors as Determined by Interview and Medical Chart Review
Number of clinically important medication errors per patient
Measured: Measured at Day 30
Secondary outcomes (1)
Number of Participants With Unplanned Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits
Unplanned hospitalizations and Emergency Department visits
Measured: Measured at Day 30
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted10 Mar 2008 (estimated)
- Study startMay 2008
- Primary completionSep 2009
- Study completionMar 2012
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Publications (3)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Acute Coronary SyndromeStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Vanderbilt University Medical CenterThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Investigator, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 862 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Sunil Kripalani, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Investigators
- Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, Principal investigator, Vanderbilt University Medical CenterJeffrey L. Schnipper, MD, MPH, Principal investigator, Brigham and Women's Hospital
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00632021
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 539
- Other IDs
- R01HL089755
- Acronym
- PILL-CVD
- Status last verified
- Aug 2017
- First submitted
- 6 Mar 2008
- Last updated
- 1 Sep 2017
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- No
Publications
Schnipper JL, Roumie CL, Cawthon C, Businger A, Dalal AK, Mugalla I, Eden S, Jacobson TA, Rask KJ, Vaccarino V, Gandhi TK, Bates DW, Johnson DC, Labonville S, Gregory D, Kripalani S; PILL-CVD Study Group. Rationale and design of the Pharmacist Intervention for Low Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease (PILL-CVD) study. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2010 Mar;3(2):212-9. doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.109.921833.
PubMed 20233982Kripalani S, Roumie CL, Dalal AK, Cawthon C, Businger A, Eden SK, Shintani A, Sponsler KC, Harris LJ, Theobald C, Huang RL, Scheurer D, Hunt S, Jacobson TA, Rask KJ, Vaccarino V, Gandhi TK, Bates DW, Williams MV, Schnipper JL; PILL-CVD (Pharmacist Intervention for Low Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease) Study Group. Effect of a pharmacist intervention on clinically important medication errors after hospital discharge: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Jul 3;157(1):1-10. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-157-1-201207030-00003.
PubMed 22751755Bell SP, Schnipper JL, Goggins K, Bian A, Shintani A, Roumie CL, Dalal AK, Jacobson TA, Rask KJ, Vaccarino V, Gandhi TK, Labonville SA, Johnson D, Neal EB, Kripalani S; Pharmacist Intervention for Low Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease (PILL-CVD) Study Group. Effect of Pharmacist Counseling Intervention on Health Care Utilization Following Hospital Discharge: A Randomized Control Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 May;31(5):470-7. doi: 10.1007/s11606-016-3596-3.
PubMed 26883526
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 1 Sep 2017. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00632021
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- PILL-CVD / 539
- Conditions
- Acute Coronary Syndrome, Heart Failure
- Keywords
- Low Health Literacy, Medication Errors, Cardiovascular Disease, Pharmacist, Care Transition
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 862 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Vanderbilt University Medical CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Study start
- May 2008
- Primary completion
- Sep 2009 (actual)
- Study completion
- Mar 2012 (actual)
- First posted
- 10 Mar 2008 (estimated)
- Results
- Posted 1 Aug 2017
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Many people who have recently left the hospital have difficulties managing their medications, and medication errors are common. Patients with low health literacy levels may have a particularly difficult time understanding medication dosing and instructions. This study will evaluate a literacy-focused program that provides educational assistance from pharmacists at the time of hospital discharge to people hospitalized with heart problems.
Detailed description
After hospital discharge, many people experience difficulty in managing their medication regimens. This can be due to medication dosing changes, challenges in adjusting new medications with those that were taken previously, inadequate discharge instructions from hospital personnel, and inadequate follow-up. Difficulty with medication management can lead to medication errors that result in harmful side effects, poor disease control, hospital readmission, or even death. People with low health literacy often have greater difficulty with understanding and managing their medication regimens and as a result they experience more medication use errors. Although research shows that many medication errors could be prevented or lessened through improved doctor communication and patient-centered treatment programs, little research has been done on the effectiveness of such programs among low-literacy patients or of such programs during key transition times like hospital discharge. Getting pharmacists involved with patient care before hospital discharge may prevent unnecessary and dangerous medication errors from occurring once patients leave the hospital. Because of the severity of heart conditions and the likelihood of serious adverse effects from non-compliance with heart medications, this study will evaluate people admitted to the hospital for acute coronary syndromes or heart failure. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a health literacy-focused, pharmacist-delivered program at reducing medication errors in heart patients during the first month after hospital discharge.
This study will enroll people admitted to the hospital who have acute coronary syndromes or heart failure. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the pharmacist-delivered program or usual care. Participants assigned to the intervention group will receive a pharmacist-assisted medication review while in the hospital, counseling from a pharmacist at the time of hospital discharge, a low-literacy education tool that details the discharge medications, a follow-up phone call 1 to 4 days after discharge, and additional phone calls as needed. Participants receiving usual care will receive a doctor-assisted medication review and nurse-provided guidance on medication usage at the time of hospital discharge. Approximately 30 days after hospital discharge, study researchers will call all participants to collect information on serious medication errors, health care utilization, and disease-specific quality of life.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (investigator, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No intervention | –Patients will receive usual care at hospital discharge, which generally includes physician reconciliation of medications and a nurse-provided explanation of how to take medications at the time of discharge. |
| 2 | Experimental | Behavioral: Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular DiseaseParticipants will receive pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, pharmacist counseling prior to discharge, a follow-up telephone call 1-4 days after discharge, and additional telephone support as needed. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Admitted to a participating study hospital
- Diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes or heart failure
Key exclusion criteria (12 listed)
- Too ill to participate
- Corrected visual acuity worse than 20/200
- Severe hearing impairment
- Patient is not being discharged to their home
- No regular telephone number
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular DiseaseBefore hospital discharge, a pharmacist will provide medication reconciliation and counseling on how to take medications. Participants will receive a follow-up phone call 1 to 4 days after hospital discharge to discuss any medication problems, and additionally as needed. | Behavioural | 2 |
Primary outcome
Number of Serious Medication Errors as Determined by Interview and Medical Chart Review
Time frame: Measured at Day 30
Number of clinically important medication errors per patient
1 secondary outcome
Number of Participants With Unplanned Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits
Time frame: Measured at Day 30
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 1 Sep 2017.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Background: PubMed 20233982Schnipper JL, Roumie CL, Cawthon C, Businger A, Dalal AK, Mugalla I, Eden S, Jacobson TA, Rask KJ, Vaccarino V, Gandhi TK, Bates DW, Johnson DC, Labonville S, Gregory D, Kripalani S; PILL-CVD Study Group. Rationale and design of the Pharmacist Intervention for Low Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease (PILL-CVD) study. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2010 Mar;3(2):212-9. doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.109.921833.
- Results publication: PubMed 22751755Kripalani S, Roumie CL, Dalal AK, Cawthon C, Businger A, Eden SK, Shintani A, Sponsler KC, Harris LJ, Theobald C, Huang RL, Scheurer D, Hunt S, Jacobson TA, Rask KJ, Vaccarino V, Gandhi TK, Bates DW, Williams MV, Schnipper JL; PILL-CVD (Pharmacist Intervention for Low Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease) Study Group. Effect of a pharmacist intervention on clinically important medication errors after hospital discharge: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Jul 3;157(1):1-10. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-157-1-201207030-00003.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 26883526Bell SP, Schnipper JL, Goggins K, Bian A, Shintani A, Roumie CL, Dalal AK, Jacobson TA, Rask KJ, Vaccarino V, Gandhi TK, Labonville SA, Johnson D, Neal EB, Kripalani S; Pharmacist Intervention for Low Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease (PILL-CVD) Study Group. Effect of Pharmacist Counseling Intervention on Health Care Utilization Following Hospital Discharge: A Randomized Control Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 May;31(5):470-7. doi: 10.1007/s11606-016-3596-3.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc principal investigator
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Jeffrey L. Schnipper, MD, MPH principal investigator
Brigham and Women's Hospital
2 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Pharmacist Intervention for Low-Literacy in Cardiovascular Disease in people with Acute Coronary Syndrome and Heart Failure, run by Vanderbilt University Medical Center at 2 sites in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 12 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 1 Sep 2017. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 2 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 1 Aug 2017). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Number of Serious Medication Errors as Determined by Interview and Medical Chart Review (time frame: Measured at Day 30). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00632021, which also lists 3 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 1 Sep 2017; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 27 Oct 2026.