Browsing by Author "Skrabal, Maryann Z."

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    Health-Related Quality of Life Impact in Employees Participating in a Pharmacist-Run Risk Reduction Program
    (University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, 2012-12) Lenz, Thomas L.; Gillespie, Nicole D.; Skrabal, Maryann Z.; Faulkner, Michele A.; Skradski, Jessica J.; Qi, Yongyue; Coleman, Abby W.
    Health related quality of life (HRQOL) and self-perceived well-being have been shown to be associated with lower healthcare utilization and costs in people with chronic diseases. A pharmacist-run employee health program started in 2008 sought to improve HRQOL through the use of individualized lifestyle behavior programming, medication therapy management, and care coordination activities. Following one year of participation in the program, employee participant’s self-reported general health rating significantly improved compared with their baseline rating (p < 0.001). Participants also reported a significantly lower number of days within a month when they did not feel physically and/or mentally well at baseline vs. one-year, respectively (10.3 days vs. 6.0 days, p < 0.01). Pharmacists can positively impact self-reported HRQOL when working in an employee health setting.
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    A Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in a Community Pharmacy Setting
    (University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, 2010) Lenz, Thomas L.; Skradski, Jessica; Skrabal, Maryann Z.; Ferguson, Liz; Monaghan, Michael S.
    Chronic diseases continue to be a significant burden to the health care system. Pharmacists have been able to show that drug therapy for patients with chronic diseases can be improved through medication therapy management (MTM) services but have yet to become significantly involved in implementing lifestyle modification programs to further control and prevent chronic conditions. A novel and innovative lifestyle medicine program was started by pharmacists in a community pharmacy in 2008 to more comprehensively prevent and manage chronic conditions. The lifestyle medicine program consists of designing seven personalized programs for patients to address physical activity, nutrition, alcohol consumption, weight control, stress management, sleep success, and tobacco cessation (if needed). The lifestyle medicine program complements existing MTM services for patients with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and/or diabetes. This program is innovative because pharmacists have developed and implemented a method to combine lifestyle medicine with MTM services to not only manage chronic conditions, but prevent the progression of those conditions and others. Several innovative tools have also been developed to enhance the effectiveness of a lifestyle medicine program. This manuscript describes the program’s pharmacy setting, pharmacy personnel, participants and program details as well as the tools used to integrate a lifestyle medicine program with MTM services.
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    Lifestyle Medicine-Related Cardiovascular Risk Factor Changes in Employees Participating in a Pharmacist-Run Risk Reduction Program
    (University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, 2012-12) Lenz, Thomas L.; Gillespie, Nicole D.; Faulkner, Michele A.; Skrabal, Maryann Z.; Skradski, Jessica J.; Qi, Yongyue; Larson, Jessica C.
    Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death among American adults accounting for approximately one-third of all deaths. It has been shown, however, that the actual causes of death are related to lifestyle behaviors such as tobacco use, poor diet and physical activity and alcohol consumption. A pharmacist-run employee health program, started in 2008, sought to lower CVD risk through the use of individualized lifestyle behavior programming, medication therapy management, and care coordination activities. Following one year of participation in the program, employee participants were shown to significantly increase exercise quantity (p < 0.001), fruit and vegetable consumption (p < 0.001), and decrease self-reported stress level (p = 0.006). The percentage of program participants simultaneously adherent to the recommended levels of exercise, combined fruit and vegetable intake and tobacco abstinence at one-year was 34.5% vs. 5.5% at baseline. This compares with only 5.1% of the U.S. population adherent to the same three behaviors. Pharmacists can positively impact healthy lifestyle behaviors when working in an employee health setting.