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Deprescribing of Medicines in Care Homes—A Five-Year Evaluation of Primary Care Pharmacist Practices
Pharmacy, Volume: 7, Issue: 3, Start page: 105
Swansea University Author:
Delyth James
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© 2019 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/pharmacy7030105
Abstract
(1) Background: This project evaluates the outcomes of a novel pharmacy-led model of deprescribing unnecessary medications for care home patients. A feasibility study was conducted in 2015 to explore exposure to inappropriate polypharmacy in patients residing in care homes over a one-year timescale....
| Published in: | Pharmacy |
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| ISSN: | 2226-4787 |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2019
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69696 |
| Abstract: |
(1) Background: This project evaluates the outcomes of a novel pharmacy-led model of deprescribing unnecessary medications for care home patients. A feasibility study was conducted in 2015 to explore exposure to inappropriate polypharmacy in patients residing in care homes over a one-year timescale. The aim of this study was to present the results of this ongoing service evaluation over a five-year period. (2) Methods: Data collection and risk assessment tools developed during the feasibility study were used to measure the prevalence, nature, and impact of deprescribing interventions by primary care pharmacists over a five-year period. A random sample of approximately 5% of safety interventions were screened twice yearly by the pharmacist leads as part of standard practice. (3) Results: Over a period of five years there were 23,955 interventions (mean 2.3 per patient) reported from the 10,405 patient reviews undertaken. Deprescribing accounted for 53% of total estimated financial drug savings, equating to £431,493; and 16.1% of all interventions were related to safety. (4) Conclusions: Medication reviews in care homes, undertaken by primary care pharmacists who are linked to GP practices, generate a wide range of interventions commonly involving deprescribing, which contributes significantly to the continuous optimisation of the prescribing and monitoring of medicines. |
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| Keywords: |
care homes; deprescribing; pharmacists |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
This research received no external funding; funding for the academic Masters fees during the feasibility study was received from NHS Health Education South West in 21st January 2015. |
| Issue: |
3 |
| Start Page: |
105 |