Guidelines recommend patient follow-up within 2 weeks of antidepressant initiation or uptitration to minimize treatment discontinuation and suicidal ideation risks; however, time constraints and lack of systematic processes remain barriers in primary care. A pharmacist-led multidisciplinary telemonitoring service aimed to address these barriers. This was a retrospective, observational study of adults with depression initiated or uptitrated on an antidepressant between May and October 2016. Outcomes included the proportion of eligible patients successfully contacted, adherence, adverse effects, suicidal ideations, and pharmacist interventions. Clinical pharmacists successfully reached 258 of 380 (68%) patients and provided follow-up in 298 calls. Patients endorsed antidepressant nonadherence during 56 (19%) calls, adverse effects in 81 (27%) calls, and suicidal ideations in 13 (4%) calls. Pharmacists provided 109 total interventions for 102 patients. The clinical pharmacist-led multidisciplinary antidepressant telemonitoring service is an alternative resource to monitor patients after antidepressant initiation or titration in primary care settings.
Keywords: antidepressant; clinical pharmacy; depression; pharmacists; primary care; telehealth.