ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Vagal neurostimulation (VNS) medical devices (MDs) are used to treat drug-resistant epilepsy. Using a magnet, the patient can activate on the stimulations in order to stop a seizure or interrupt the adverse effects (AEs) of the device. The objective is to evaluate the improvement of the patients' knowledge about the VNS following a pharmaceutical educational interview (PEI) as well as their satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pharmaceutical educational interview regarding drugs and DMs was performed by the clinical pharmacist at the patient's bed after VNS implantation. A questionnaire about VNS devices (operation, adverse effects, recommendations) and assessing knowledge was submitted to patients before and after the PEI. Satisfaction was assessed by the Likert scale. RESULTS: From March 2020 to August 2021, 18 implanted patients were included in the study. In 78% of cases (14/18), the total number of good responses after PEI increased. The mean good response was significantly increased from 16.11/25 (64%) before PEI to 22.33/25 (89%) after PEI (P-value<0.01). The maximum satisfaction score (4/4) was given in 71% of the items. DISCUSSION-CONCLUSION: The results support the relevance of PEI. Patients feel a need for information and consider the interview useful. An improvement in knowledge was observed, which allows us to hope for an optimization of the effectiveness of the device, in particular, a reduction in seizures and AE. This study shows the feasibility and the interest of the development of clinical pharmacy applied to medical devices in complementarity with the expertise on drugs.
