Effects of a pharmacist-led structured medication review in primary care on drug-related problems and hospital admission rates: a randomized controlled trial.
Lenander, Cecilia LU ; Elfsson, Birgitta ; Danielsson, Birgitta ; Midlöv, Patrik LU
and Hasselström, Jan
(2014)
In Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
32(4).
p.180-186
- Abstract
- Objective. To determine whether a pharmacist-led medications review in primary care reduces the number of drugs and the number of drug-related problems. Design. Prospective randomized controlled trial. Setting. Liljeholmen Primary Care Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. Subjects. 209 patients aged ≥ 65 years with five or more different medications. Intervention. Patients answered a questionnaire regarding medications. The pharmacist reviewed all medications (prescription, non-prescription, and herbal) regarding recommendations and renal impairment, giving advice to patients and GPs. Each patient met the pharmacist before seeing their GP. Control patients received their usual care. Main outcome measures. Drug-related problems and number of drugs.... (More)
- Objective. To determine whether a pharmacist-led medications review in primary care reduces the number of drugs and the number of drug-related problems. Design. Prospective randomized controlled trial. Setting. Liljeholmen Primary Care Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. Subjects. 209 patients aged ≥ 65 years with five or more different medications. Intervention. Patients answered a questionnaire regarding medications. The pharmacist reviewed all medications (prescription, non-prescription, and herbal) regarding recommendations and renal impairment, giving advice to patients and GPs. Each patient met the pharmacist before seeing their GP. Control patients received their usual care. Main outcome measures. Drug-related problems and number of drugs. Secondary outcomes included health care utilization and self-rated health during 12 months of follow-up. Results. No significant difference was seen when comparing change in drug-related problems between the groups. However, a significant decrease in drug-related problems was observed in the intervention group (from 1.73 per patient at baseline to 1.31 at follow-up, p < 0.05). The change in number of drugs was more pronounced in the intervention group (p < 0.046). Intervention group patients were not admitted to hospital on fewer occasions or for fewer days, and there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding utilization of primary care during follow-up. Self-rated health remained unchanged in the intervention group, whereas a drop (p < 0.02) was reported in the control group. This resulted in a significant difference in change in self-rated health between the groups (p < 0.047). Conclusions. The addition of a skilled pharmacist to the primary care team may contribute to reductions in numbers of drugs and maintenance of self-rated health in elderly patients with polypharmacy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4733209
- author
- Lenander, Cecilia
LU
; Elfsson, Birgitta
; Danielsson, Birgitta
; Midlöv, Patrik
LU
and Hasselström, Jan
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
- volume
- 32
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 180 - 186
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:25347723
- wos:000346108700006
- scopus:84917677095
- ISSN
- 0281-3432
- DOI
- 10.3109/02813432.2014.972062
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- aac97012-30de-4cc8-a9e1-2b6064c0c628 (old id 4733209)
- alternative location
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25347723?dopt=Abstract
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:11:38
- date last changed
- 2022-04-28 07:49:47
@article{aac97012-30de-4cc8-a9e1-2b6064c0c628,
abstract = {{Objective. To determine whether a pharmacist-led medications review in primary care reduces the number of drugs and the number of drug-related problems. Design. Prospective randomized controlled trial. Setting. Liljeholmen Primary Care Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. Subjects. 209 patients aged ≥ 65 years with five or more different medications. Intervention. Patients answered a questionnaire regarding medications. The pharmacist reviewed all medications (prescription, non-prescription, and herbal) regarding recommendations and renal impairment, giving advice to patients and GPs. Each patient met the pharmacist before seeing their GP. Control patients received their usual care. Main outcome measures. Drug-related problems and number of drugs. Secondary outcomes included health care utilization and self-rated health during 12 months of follow-up. Results. No significant difference was seen when comparing change in drug-related problems between the groups. However, a significant decrease in drug-related problems was observed in the intervention group (from 1.73 per patient at baseline to 1.31 at follow-up, p < 0.05). The change in number of drugs was more pronounced in the intervention group (p < 0.046). Intervention group patients were not admitted to hospital on fewer occasions or for fewer days, and there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding utilization of primary care during follow-up. Self-rated health remained unchanged in the intervention group, whereas a drop (p < 0.02) was reported in the control group. This resulted in a significant difference in change in self-rated health between the groups (p < 0.047). Conclusions. The addition of a skilled pharmacist to the primary care team may contribute to reductions in numbers of drugs and maintenance of self-rated health in elderly patients with polypharmacy.}},
author = {{Lenander, Cecilia and Elfsson, Birgitta and Danielsson, Birgitta and Midlöv, Patrik and Hasselström, Jan}},
issn = {{0281-3432}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{180--186}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care}},
title = {{Effects of a pharmacist-led structured medication review in primary care on drug-related problems and hospital admission rates: a randomized controlled trial.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02813432.2014.972062}},
doi = {{10.3109/02813432.2014.972062}},
volume = {{32}},
year = {{2014}},
}