Optimising pharmaceutical care after acute coronary syndrome for patients discharged from the cardiology unit

Cardiovascular disease can manifest as coronary heart disease (CHD) or stroke and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Scotland. The long term secondary preventative management of CHD is evidence based and despite a wide range of guidelines available evidence suggests there is a lack of adherence to lifestyle recommendations and the use of prophylactic medication in patients with CHD. Improvements in management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have led to short hospital admissions and limited time to titrate new medicines to evidence based doses during hospital stay. There is a need for good communication between secondary and primary care to ensure evidence based practice in secondary prevention of ACS. This study investigated one method of communication with the aim to improve pharmaceutical care between primary and secondary care for secondary prevention of ACS.