Document Detail


The effect of systematic medication review in elderly patients admitted to an acute ward of internal medicine.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20059474     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Elderly patients are vulnerable to medication errors and adverse drug events due to increased morbidity, polypharmacy and inappropriate interactions. The objective of this study was to investigate whether systematic medication review and counselling performed by a clinical pharmacist and clinical pharmacologist would reduce length of in-hospital stay in elderly patients admitted to an acute ward of internal medicine. A randomized, controlled study of 100 patients aged 70 years or older was conducted in an acute ward of internal medicine in Denmark. Intervention arm: a clinical pharmacist conducted systematic medication reviews after an experienced medical physician had prescribed the patients' medication. Information was collected from medical charts, interview with the patients and database registrations of drug purchase. Subsequently, medication histories were conferred with a clinical pharmacologist and advisory notes recommending medication changes were completed. Physicians were not obliged to comply with the recommendations. Control arm: medication was reviewed by usual routine in the ward. Primary end-point was length of in-hospital stay. In addition, readmissions, mortality, contact to primary healthcare and quality of life were measured at 3-month follow-up. In the intervention arm, the mean length of in-hospital stay was 239.9 hr (95% CI: 190.2-289.6) and in the control arm: 238.6 hr (95% CI: 137.6-339.6), which was neither a statistical significant nor a clinically relevant difference. Moreover, no differences were observed for any of the secondary end-points. Systematic medication review and medication counselling did not show any effect on in-hospital length of stay in elderly patients when admitted to an acute ward of internal medicine.
Authors:
Marianne Lisby; Anette Thomsen; Lars Peter Nielsen; Nina Munk Lyhne; Charlotte Breum-Leer; Ulrich Fredberg; Henny Jørgensen; Birgitte Brock
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2010-01-03
Journal Detail:
Title:  Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology     Volume:  106     ISSN:  1742-7843     ISO Abbreviation:  Basic Clin. Pharmacol. Toxicol.     Publication Date:  2010 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-06-07     Completed Date:  2010-11-22     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101208422     Medline TA:  Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol     Country:  Denmark    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  422-7     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus Sygehus, Aarhus, Denmark. ml@farm.au.dk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Aged
Denmark
Drug Interactions
Humans
Length of Stay
Medication Errors / prevention & control*
Medication Therapy Management*
Patient Care
Pharmacists
Pharmacology, Clinical
Physicians
Polypharmacy
Primary Health Care

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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