Enrolling by invitation
eAMS-Pharm

Electronic Asthma Management System for Pharmacies

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Study AimThis clinical trial is an interventional study aimed at improving asthma management in pharmacies through an electronic system. It will assess the proportion and trend of medication adjustments, asthma control assessment, and action plan creation for patients.
What is being tested

Pharmacy Clinical Decision Support System for Asthma Management

Behavioral
Who is being recruted

Pharmacy
+1

+ Asthma Management
+ Asthma
Over 16 Years

See all eligibility criteria

How is the trial designed

Services Research Study

Interventional
Study Start: June 2025

See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorUnity Health Toronto
Last updated: August 17, 2025
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner
Study start date: June 23, 2025Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

Asthma is a common long-term condition that affects many adults, and controlling it can be challenging. Despite available treatments, many people in Canada struggle with poorly controlled asthma due to several gaps in care, such as not following guidelines, not adjusting medications when needed, and not getting proper action plans or specialist referrals. This study focuses on a tool called the Electronic Asthma Management System (eAMS), which has been successful in primary care settings and aims to improve asthma management by involving pharmacists. Pharmacists are increasingly important in healthcare, and this study seeks to use the eAMS to help them provide better asthma care, potentially making it easier for patients to manage their condition and easing the load on primary care doctors. In the study, participants will use the eAMS tool, which is a web-based system that collects information about their asthma and provides tailored advice. Using a questionnaire, patients will enter details about their asthma symptoms, which the system then analyzes to offer guidance on managing their condition. The tool can recommend changes to medication and create a personalized asthma action plan. Pharmacists will use this information to support asthma patients more effectively, helping to ensure they have the right care and medications. While the study doesn't list specific risks or benefits, it aims to improve asthma control and make healthcare more efficient by involving pharmacists in chronic disease management.

Official TitleThe Electronic Asthma Management System in Pharmacies (eAMS-Pharm) 
Principal SponsorUnity Health Toronto
Last updated: August 17, 2025
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details
100 patients to be enrolledTotal number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.
Services Research Study
These studies look at how healthcare is delivered, managed, and organized. They aim to improve care quality, patient experience, and access to treatment.

How participants are assigned to different groups/arms
In this clinical study, participants are assigned to groups based on specific criteria, such as their medical history or a doctor's recommendation. This approach ensures that treatments are given to those who may benefit the most, based on known factors.

Other Ways to Assign Participants
Randomized allocation: Participants are assigned randomly, like flipping a coin, to ensure fairness and reduce bias.
None (Single-arm trial): If the study has only one group, all participants receive the same treatment, and no allocation is needed.

How treatments are given to participants
Participants receive treatments one after another in a pre-planned sequence. The next treatment may depend on how the participant responds to the previous one.

Other Ways to Assign Treatments
Single-group assignment: Everyone gets the same treatment.
Parallel assignment: Participants are split into separate groups, each receiving a different treatment.
Cross-over assignment: Participants switch between treatments during the study.
Factorial assignment: Participants receive different combinations of treatments.
Other assignment: Treatment assignment does not follow a standard or predefined design.

How the effectiveness of the treatment is controlled
In a non placebo-controlled study, no participants receive an inert substance (placebo) to compare outcomes. Instead, all participants receive either the experimental treatment or an alternative treatment (often the Standard of Care). This method allows researchers to compare the effects of the experimental treatment with those of a different active intervention, rather than a placebo.

Other Options
Placebo-Controlled: A placebo is used to compare the effects of the experimental treatment with those of an inert substance, isolating the true treatment effect.

How the interventions assigned to participants is kept confidential
Everyone involved in the study knows which treatment is being given. This is typically used when it's not possible or necessary to hide the treatment details from participants or researchers.

Other Ways to Mask Information
Single-blind: Participants do not know which treatment they are receiving, but researchers do.
Double-blind: Neither participants nor researchers know which treatment is given.
Triple-blind: Participants, researchers, and outcome assessors do not know which treatment is given.
Quadruple-blind: Participants, researchers, outcome assessors, and care providers all do not know which treatment is given.

Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria
Any sexBiological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.
Over 16 YearsRange of ages for which participants are eligible to join.
Healthy volunteers not allowedIf individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.
Conditions
Pathology
Pharmacy
Asthma Management
Asthma
Computerized Decision Support System
Criteria

* Eligible patients would be those who have asthma and are seen at one of the three study pharmacies during the study period * Eligible pharmacy team members would be staff (pharmacists/RPhTs/assistants/students) at any one of the three study pharmacies

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives
2 intervention groups 

are designated in this study

This study does not include a placebo group 

Treatment Groups
Group I
No Intervention
A retrospective, pharmacy chart review will assess pharmacy-delivered care in the six-month pre-intervention period.
Group II
Active Comparator
Throughout the intervention period, the eAMS-Pharm will be provided to pharmacists/RPhTs/assistants/students (for use in eligible patients).
Study Objectives
Primary Objectives

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion and trend in patients receiving medication adjustments

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion and trend of patients receiving asthma control assessment by guideline criteria

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion and trend of asthma action plans being created for patients
Secondary Objectives

Exclusively throughout the intervention, electronic questionnaires developed by the investigators will be sent to consenting patients to assess quantitative patient feedback on system functionality and care quality received, as 5-point Likert scales. Multiple choice and yes/no questions will also bee used to determine demographics and relevant asthma diagnosis information

Exclusively throughout the intervention, electronic questionnaires developed by the investigators will be sent to consenting patients to assess qualitative patient feedback on benefits and drawbacks of the system, as measured through two free-text questions

Exclusively throughout the intervention, electronic questionnaires developed by the investigators will be sent to consenting pharmacy team members to assess feedback on system usability, as measured by The System Usability Scale (SUS), a 10-item 5-point Likert scale

Exclusively throughout the intervention, electronic questionnaires developed by the investigators will be sent to consenting pharmacy team members to assess quantitative pharmacy team feedback on technology interest, role of pharmacies in chronic disease care and asthma action plans, system functionality, and benefits and drawbacks of the system on pharmacy workflows, as measured with 5-point Likert scales

Exclusively throughout the intervention, electronic questionnaires developed by the investigators will be sent to consenting pharmacy team members to assess qualitative pharmacy team feedback on system usage, as measured through 6 free text questions. To supplement the outcome of revenue metrics, the pharmacy team feedback questionnaire will also ask pharmacy team members to estimate revenue for time spent

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion of prescriptions/action plans which receive sign-back from prescribers in each analysis period

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion of eligible visits for which a pharmaceutical opinion was successfully billed

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion of eligible visits for which a MedsCheck was successfully billed

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the total average revenue per eligible patient by summing pharmaceutical opinion, MedsChecks, markups, and dispensing fees

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the overall reimbursement for time pharmacy team members spent in the system. To measure, investigators will sum the total revenue per patient and divide by time spent in the system for each patient over visits. An average will be calculated across all patients

Using pharmacist chart review, the investigators will assess the proportion of severe asthma patients, as identified by medications currently prescribed and filled, and who are not already seeing a specialist, for whom a prompt for specialist referral was sent to the prescriber

Using pharmacist chart review, investigators will assess the number of times the system was used in virtual (i.e., telemedicine) visits and in in-person visits

Using system analytics, investigators will assess the type of content accessed (clinical tools, clinical decisions, educational materials) by patients and pharmacy teams

Using system analytics, investigators will assess the number of patients who engaged with the system by the programmatic (mass invite) method, or as a walk-in patient following programmatic invitations

Using system analytics, investigators will assess how long it takes pharmacy teams to access and complete clinical decision making within the system. Last screen timestamp minus first screen timestamp will be used to measure time

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.
This study has 3 locations
Suspended
Medical Place PharmacyAjax, CanadaSee the location
Suspended
LiveWell PharmacyNiagara Falls, Canada
Suspended
Westmount Place PharmacyWaterloo, Canada
Enrolling by invitation3 Study Centers