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Physician Intervention for Medication Reduction in a Nursing Home: The Polypharmacy Outcomes Project.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21450207     Owner:  NLM     Status:  Publisher    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of a medication review project by geriatricians and geriatric medicine fellows on polypharmacy in a teaching nursing home. DESIGN: Quality improvement intervention study SETTING: Long-term care facility in Honolulu, HI PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-four patients with the Minimum Data Set quality indicator criteria of polypharmacy (9 or more medications). INTERVENTION: Geriatric medicine fellows and faculty reviewed each patient's medication list, consulted the updated Beers Criteria and Epocrates online drug-drug interaction program, and recommended medication changes to the patients' primary care physicians. MEASUREMENTS: Descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, and sums of variables were obtained for the number of medications in the following categories: total number, scheduled, pro re nata, high risk, contraindicated, with potential drug-drug interactions, and with no indication. RESULTS: Of 160 patients residing in a nursing home, 74 were on 9 or more medications. After the intervention, the mean number of medications per patient in the following categories decreased significantly: total number (16.64 to 15.54, P < .001), scheduled (11.3 to 10.99, P < .001), pro re nata (5.33 to 4.56, P < .001), high risk (0.94 to 0.73, P < .001), contraindicated (0.29 to 0.13, P = .004), with potential drug-drug interactions (6.1 to 4.83, P < .001), and with no indication (3.34 to 3.29, P = .045). CONCLUSION: Polypharmacy in long-term care is prevalent and can lead to increased adverse effects and potentially inappropriate prescriptions. This study demonstrates an effective geriatrician-led intervention that both reduced polypharmacy and provided core competency training for geriatric medicine fellows.
Authors:
Bruce K Tamura; Christina L Bell; Karen Lubimir; Wendy N Iwasaki; Laura A Ziegler; Kamal H Masaki
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Publication Detail:
Type:  JOURNAL ARTICLE     Date:  2010-10-20
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of the American Medical Directors Association     Volume:  -     ISSN:  1538-9375     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2010 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-3-31     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  100893243     Medline TA:  J Am Med Dir Assoc     Country:  -    
Other Details:
Languages:  ENG     Pagination:  -     Citation Subset:  -    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2010 American Medical Directors Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
The John A. Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatrics, Department of Geriatric Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (B.K.T., C.L.B., K.L., L.A.Z., K.H.M.).
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