Feasibility of Integrating Residential Care Pharmacists into Aged Care Homes to Improve Quality Use of Medicines: Study Protocol for a Non-Randomised Controlled Pilot Trial

Nicole McDerby, Mark Naunton, Alison Shield, Kasia Bail and Sam Kosari
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Nicole McDerby: Faculty of Health, Discipline of Pharmacy, University of Canberra, Bruce CBR 2617, Australia
Mark Naunton: Faculty of Health, Discipline of Pharmacy, University of Canberra, Bruce CBR 2617, Australia
Alison Shield: Faculty of Health, Discipline of Pharmacy, University of Canberra, Bruce CBR 2617, Australia
Kasia Bail: Faculty of Health, Discipline of Nursing, University of Canberra, Bruce CBR 2617, Australia
Sam Kosari: Faculty of Health, Discipline of Pharmacy, University of Canberra, Bruce CBR 2617, Australia

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Older adults are particularly susceptible to iatrogenic disease and communicable diseases, such as influenza. Prescribing in the residential aged care population is complex, and requires ongoing review to prevent medication misadventure. Pharmacist-led medication review is effective in reducing medication-related problems; however, current funding arrangements specifically exclude pharmacists from routinely participating in resident care. Integrating an on-site clinical pharmacist into residential care teams is an unexplored opportunity to improve quality use of medicines in this setting. The primary objective of this pilot study is to investigate the feasibility of integrating a residential care pharmacist into the existing care team. Secondary outcomes include incidence of pharmacist-led medication review, and incidence of potential medication problems based on validated prescribing measures. This is a cross-sectional, non-randomised controlled trial with a residential care pharmacist trialled at a single facility, and a parallel control site receiving usual care and services only. The results of this hypothesis-generating pilot study will be used to identify clinical outcomes and direct future larger scale investigations into the implementation of the novel residential care pharmacist model to optimise quality use of medicines in a population at high risk of medication misadventure.

Keywords: pharmacist; residential care; medication review; dosage form modification; influenza vaccination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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