Pharmacists’ Role in Older Adults’ Medication Regimen Complexity: A Systematic Review

Catharine Falch and Gilberto Alves
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Catharine Falch: CICS-UBI-Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, Av. Infante D. Henrique, 6200-506 Covilhã, Portugal
Gilberto Alves: CICS-UBI-Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, Av. Infante D. Henrique, 6200-506 Covilhã, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: Medication regimen complexity (MRC) may influence health outcomes, such as hospitalisation, hospital readmission and medication adherence. Pharmacists have been referred to as health professionals with the opportunity to act on MRC reduction. This study aimed to investigate pharmacists’ role in studies about older adults’ medication regimen complexity. A literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library—CENTRAL—up to October 2019. Out of 653 potentially relevant studies, 17 articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. Most studies used the 65-item medication regimen complexity index (MRCI) to assess medication complexity. Pharmacists’ role was mainly confined to data collection. It seems that pharmacists’ active role in older adults’ medication complexity has not been studied in depth so far. However, the few existing interventional ones suggest that, after previous training, regimen simplification is feasible.

Keywords: older adults; medication regimen complexity; pharmacist; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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