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Medication reviews in primary care in Sweden: importance of clinical pharmacists' recommendations on drug-related problems.

Modig, Sara LU orcid ; Holmdahl, Lydia LU and Bondesson, Åsa ÅB LU (2015) In International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
Abstract
Background One way of preventing and solving drug-related problems in frail elderly is to perform team-based medication reviews. Objective To evaluate the quality of the clinical pharmacy service to primary care using structured medication reviews, focusing on the clinical significance of the recommendations made by clinical pharmacists. Setting A random sample of 150 patients (out of 1541) who received structured team based medication reviews. The patients lived at a geriatric nursing home or were ≥65 years and lived in ordinary housing with medication-related community help. Method Based on information on symptoms, kidney function, blood pressure, diagnoses and the medication list, a pharmacist identified possible drug-related problems... (More)
Background One way of preventing and solving drug-related problems in frail elderly is to perform team-based medication reviews. Objective To evaluate the quality of the clinical pharmacy service to primary care using structured medication reviews, focusing on the clinical significance of the recommendations made by clinical pharmacists. Setting A random sample of 150 patients (out of 1541) who received structured team based medication reviews. The patients lived at a geriatric nursing home or were ≥65 years and lived in ordinary housing with medication-related community help. Method Based on information on symptoms, kidney function, blood pressure, diagnoses and the medication list, a pharmacist identified possible drug-related problems and supplied recommendations for the general practitioner to act on. Two independent physicians retrospectively ranked the clinical significance of the recommendations according to Hatoum, with rankings ranging between 1 (adverse significance) and 6 (extremely significant). Main outcome measure The clinical significance of the recommendations. Results In total 349 drug-related problems were identified, leading to recommendations. The vast majority of the recommendations (96 %) were judged to have significance 3 or higher and more than the half were judged to have significance 4 or higher. Conclusion The high proportion of clinically significant recommendations provided by pharmacists when performing team-based medication reviews suggest that these clinical pharmacy services have potential to increase prescribing quality. As such, the medication reviews have the potential for contributing to a better and safer drug therapy for elderly patients. (Less)
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International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • pmid:26582483
  • scopus:84956637418
  • wos:000369421100009
  • pmid:26582483
ISSN
2210-7703
DOI
10.1007/s11096-015-0189-x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
05ed170d-9c19-474a-b8bb-f4234782561d (old id 8235188)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26582483?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 07:10:54
date last changed
2024-06-07 23:34:19
@article{05ed170d-9c19-474a-b8bb-f4234782561d,
  abstract     = {{Background One way of preventing and solving drug-related problems in frail elderly is to perform team-based medication reviews. Objective To evaluate the quality of the clinical pharmacy service to primary care using structured medication reviews, focusing on the clinical significance of the recommendations made by clinical pharmacists. Setting A random sample of 150 patients (out of 1541) who received structured team based medication reviews. The patients lived at a geriatric nursing home or were ≥65 years and lived in ordinary housing with medication-related community help. Method Based on information on symptoms, kidney function, blood pressure, diagnoses and the medication list, a pharmacist identified possible drug-related problems and supplied recommendations for the general practitioner to act on. Two independent physicians retrospectively ranked the clinical significance of the recommendations according to Hatoum, with rankings ranging between 1 (adverse significance) and 6 (extremely significant). Main outcome measure The clinical significance of the recommendations. Results In total 349 drug-related problems were identified, leading to recommendations. The vast majority of the recommendations (96 %) were judged to have significance 3 or higher and more than the half were judged to have significance 4 or higher. Conclusion The high proportion of clinically significant recommendations provided by pharmacists when performing team-based medication reviews suggest that these clinical pharmacy services have potential to increase prescribing quality. As such, the medication reviews have the potential for contributing to a better and safer drug therapy for elderly patients.}},
  author       = {{Modig, Sara and Holmdahl, Lydia and Bondesson, Åsa ÅB}},
  issn         = {{2210-7703}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy}},
  title        = {{Medication reviews in primary care in Sweden: importance of clinical pharmacists' recommendations on drug-related problems.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11096-015-0189-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11096-015-0189-x}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}