Cuestionario específico para dispensación de Benzodiacepinas en Farmacia Comunitaria: justificación y diseño / Specific questionnaire for dispensing benzodiazepines in community pharmacy: Justification and design

Introducción: El estudio y análisis del uso prolongado de Benzodiacepinas (BZD) sigue siendo un objetivo estratégicopara todos los niveles asistenciales y en especial para la Atención Farmacéutica. Los cuestionarios como herramientade investigación científica proporcionan una escala de medición que permite evaluar y comparar individuos conparámetros de fiabilidad y validez. Objetivo: Diseñar un cuestionario de recogida de datos (CDR) que permita la personalización de la dispensación deBZD según las características de los usuarios. Método: Revisión bibliográfica de las evidencias científicas existentes con expertos en Atención Farmacéutica, diseñode la encuesta e implementación piloto (pre-testing) del CRD con usuarios de BZD, y depuración de los ítems y formatode éstos a incluir en el CDR final. Resultados: El CDR diseñado y distribuido en 8 dimensiones, abarca parámetros sociodemográficos, de conocimientode la medicación, el test de adherencia Morisky-Green, la mediación de calidad de vida por Euroqol 5D3L y escala visualEVA, el test de Pfeiffer para deterioro cognitivo, el test de dependencia a BZD, la opción de registro de la intervención farmacéutica realizada y aceptación de la misma por parte del usuario y el grado de satisfacción del paciente sobre laintervención. Conclusiones: El CDR es un innovador instrumento práctico transferible a la práctica asistencial que permite caracterizaral paciente usuario de BZD en el momento de la dispensación en la farmacia comunitaria permitiendo individualizar ysistematizar la intervención farmacéutica al tiempo que fomentar el uso seguro y eficaz de la BZD por parte del paciente.(AU)

Introduction: The study and analysis of the prolonged use of Benzodiazepines (BZD) remains a strategic objective forall levels of care and especially for Pharmaceutical Care. Questionnaires as a scientific research tool provide ameasurement scale that allows the evaluation and comparison of individuals with parameters of reliability and validity. Objective: To design a data collection questionnaire (CDR) that allows the personalization of BZD dispensing accordingto the characteristics of the usersMethods: Bibliographic review of existing scientific evidence with experts in Pharmaceutical Care, design of the surveyand pilot implementation (pre-testing) of the CRD with BZD users, and refinement of the items and their format to beincluded in the final CDR. Results: The CDR designed and distributed in 8 dimensions, covers socio-demographic parameters, knowledge ofmedication, the Morisky-Green adherence test, quality of life mediation by Euroqol 5D3L and EVA visual scale, the Pfeiffertest for cognitive impairment, the BZD dependence test, the option of recording the pharmaceutical intervention carriedout and its acceptance by the user and the degree of patient satisfaction with the interventionConclusions: The CDR is an innovative practical tool that can be transferred to healthcare practice, allowing the patientto characterize the BZD user at the time of dispensing in the community pharmacy, enabling the individualization andsystematization of the pharmaceutical intervention while promoting the safe and effective use of the BZD by the patient.(AU)

Quality of Life Assessment in Patients Using Benzodiazepines during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Community Pharmacy Using EuroQol 5D-3L.

Users of benzodiazepines (BZDs) should have their quality of life monitored to minimize the risks associated with long-term treatments. The aim of this study is to use the EuroQol 5D-3L to analyze the quality of life of 127 patients under treatment with BZDs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that lorazepam comprises 25.49% of all dispensing requests, and that the mean duration of BZDs treatments is four years (range: 0.3-25). When rating their general health status, BZDs users reported 59.29 points out of 100. Thirty-two percent of patients reported mobility problems; 16.5% reported having a lot of pain or discomfort despite being treated with BZDs, and 16.54% used a BZD together with an opioid analgesic. The EuroQol 5D-3L dimension "anxiety/depression" showed that, despite the use of BZDs, 48.2% of the patients reported being moderately anxious or depressed and 13.4% described themselves as very anxious or depressed. Nevertheless, 37.8% of BZDs users were identified as potential candidates to follow a BZD deprescription plan. In conclusion, BZDs users showed a low quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older patients and females have been identified as groups of patients that could benefit from integrating the use of the EuroQol 5D-3L instrument into the protocols of the pharmaceutical care follow up.