| DOI: 10.29090/psa.2019.01.017.0023 | Pharm Sci Asia 2019; 46(1), 54-61 |
The effect of the pharmacist’s intervention on Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults Using the 2015 Beers CriteriaThi Xuan Vu1,2, Quynh Bui Thi Huong1*
1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Lac Hong University, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam
A high number of elderly patients are exposed to the risk of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). The Beers criteria, most recently in 2015, are the most widely cited criteria used to assess PIM prescribing for older patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of pharmacist’s intervention in improvement of appropriate prescription for geriatric inpatients according to the 2015 Beers Criteria. The pharmacist’s intervention method included training lectures on the Beers 2015 criteria in two hours for the medical doctors (MDs) of each study department; face-to-face visits with the MDs, and the notebook with the Beers 2015 provided to the MDs for reference. The study was designed as a before-and-after trial using medical records of patients aged 65 years or older, admitted to the one of three following study departments: endocrinology, cardiology, and neurology departments of Dong Nai General Hospital from 1st September 2015 to 30th June 2016. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Program, version 22.0. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors associated with the prescription of PIMs.
The pharmacist’s intervention had an impact on decreasing the PIM exposure (OR=0.337, CI 95% 0.207-0.551, p<0.001). There was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the rate of PIMs with diazepam, amitriptyline, metoclopramide after pharmacist’s intervention. The pharmacist team was able to make a statistically significant difference in the number of elderly patients being prescribed PIMs.
Keyword:
Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM); Beers criteria; polypharmacy; Adverse drug effects (ADEs); Pharmacist’s intervention; Prescription
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