An interventional study of Pharmacist-led patient education and Usual Care in Atrial Fibrillation (AF), sponsored by National Taiwan University. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in Taiwan. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-09-08.
Sponsored by National Taiwan University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
Atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) increases the risk of stroke, and patients are commonly treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). However, when patients do not take these medications regularly, the drugs may not work effectively, increasing health risks.
In this study, called PharmAD-AF, specially trained pharmacists will meet with patients who have atrial fibrillation and are prescribed DOACs. They will offer personalized education and support to help patients take their medications as directed.
Researchers will compare groups of patients who receive this pharmacist-led education versus those who receive usual care. The main goals are to assess whether pharmacist support improves how consistently patients take their DOACs and how well the treatment prevents strokes while avoiding the side effects of DOAC therapy.
If successful, the study will demonstrate how pharmacist-led education can help patients stick to their treatment plan and reduce serious health risks, offering a practical way to improve heart-related care.
4,009 studies on the registry are indexed under Atrial Fibrillation; 961 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 400 is above the median of 150 across 2,476 interventional studies indexed under Atrial Fibrillation.
Browse Atrial Fibrillation studies →National Taiwan University is the lead sponsor of 22 studies on the registry; 7 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Patients in this arm will receive a comprehensive DOAC education from trained pharmacists.
Behavioral: Pharmacist-led patient education
Patients in this arm will receive only usual care, without pharmacists providing additional DOAC education materials.
Other: Usual Care
Trained pharnacists will provide information on: (1) the indication and the reason of DOAC prescription, (2) the name and the appearance of the DOAC agent, (3) the dose, frequency, time of administration, (4) the mechanism of action, (5) management of missed doses, (6) potential side effects and self-monitoring, and (7) perioperative management. An education leaflet about DOACs will also be provided to improve patients' understanding about the use of DOACs.
Patients in the usual care group will receive only usual care, without pharmacists providing additional DOAC education materials.
Medication adherence
Patients' adherence to DOACs will be assessed using the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS). The ARMS is a 12-item scale, including eight items on medication-taking adherence and four items on refill adherence. The total score ranges from 12 to 48, with higher scores indicating greater barriers to adherence. Unit of Measure: Score (points).
Time frame: Medication adherence will be measured at 3 months and 6 months after the baseline visit.
Composite thromboembolic events
Incidence of systemic thromboembolism, defined as occurrence of ischemic stroke (IS), transient ischemic attack (TIA), myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery disease (CAD), peripheral artery disease (PAD), or venous thromboembolism (VTE). Unit of Measure: Percentage of participants (%)
Time frame: Composite thromboembolic events will be measured at 1 year and 2 years after the baseline visit
Composite major bleeding events
Incidence of major bleeding events, including intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB), and other major bleeding requiring hospitalization. Unit of Measure: Percentage of participants (%)
Time frame: Composite bleeding events will be measured at 1 year and 2 years after the baseline visit
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No
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