Study design and setting

The TBC-HTA study is an ongoing 3-year multicenter pragmatic randomized controlled trial comparing a 6-month team-based care interprofessional intervention, involving nurses, community pharmacists and physicians, to a usual care group among 110 outpatients followed in ambulatory clinics and their nearby community pharmacies in Lausanne and Geneva areas, Switzerland (Fig. 1). The patient is the unit of randomization and the unit of analysis. We applied a pragmatic approach to determine the effect of the TBC intervention under real-life conditions with existing community healthcare professional resources [35].

Study Flow Diagram

Treated uncontrolled hypertensive outpatients followed in ambulatory clinics are recruited and randomly allocated to one of two groups: 1) the TBC intervention group (TBC: N = 55), in which patients receive care from nurses and community pharmacists working in collaboration with physicians; 2) the usual care group (UC: N = 55) in which patients receive routine care without any intervention from nurses or community pharmacists. Patients are recruited from two ambulatory clinics: 1) the Hypertension Clinic, an outpatient clinic affiliated with Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV; www.chuv.ch) and located in Lausanne, 2) Cité générations, an ambulatory care center located in Geneva (www.cite-generations.ch). Regular staff nurses and physicians of the Hypertension Clinic and Cité Générations are involved in the study. Nearby community pharmacists in Lausanne and Geneva are recruited based on their geographical proximity to the ambulatory clinics to facilitate the follow-up of patients.