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Interprofessional medication assessment among home care patients: any impact on functioning? Results from a randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are related to the use of potentially inappropriate medicines and negative clinical outcomes including drug-related adverse events and functional declines. Home care clients are a vulnerable patient group often exposed to these risks. The aim of this study was to examine whether an interprofessional medication assessment can influence the functioning of home care patients. METHODS:The FIMA study was a randomised controlled intervention study comparing a general practitioner-led interprofessional medication assessment conducted at the baseline of the study with usual care with a six-month follow-up. We used linear mixed models (LMM) with a random subject effect to detect differences between the usual care and intervention groups in the following outcome measures; Katz index of Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Lawton and Brody scale of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Timed up and go-test (TUG), Mini-Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale and the 3-level version of EQ-5D. RESULTS:Home care patients (n?=?512) had major disease burdens and functional limitations. Regarding TUG times, the LMM detected a one second improvement in the FIMA group and 2.4?s worsening in the usual care group. However, the result was not statistically significant. The ADL revealed an interaction across time, treatment and sex (p?=?0.026). The ADL score decreased in both groups; the decline being the steepest among women in the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS:In general, medication assessments may have limited impact on functioning of older people. Nonetheless, the FIMA intervention may prevent worsening of mobility among older home care patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION:The Interprofessional Medication Assessment for Older Patients, Clinical Trials.gov. NCT02398812 . First registration, 26 March 2015. Retrospectively registered.

SUBMITTER: Auvinen K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7539372 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interprofessional medication assessment among home care patients: any impact on functioning? Results from a randomised controlled trial.

Auvinen K K Voutilainen A A Jyrkkä J J Lönnroos E E Mäntyselkä P P

BMC geriatrics 20201006 1

<h4>Background</h4>Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are related to the use of potentially inappropriate medicines and negative clinical outcomes including drug-related adverse events and functional declines. Home care clients are a vulnerable patient group often exposed to these risks. The aim of this study was to examine whether an interprofessional medication assessment can influence the functioning of home care patients.<h4>Methods</h4>The FIMA study was a randomised controlled intervention st ...[more]

PMID: 33023497

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Project description:AimTo develop a consensus-based instrument [MELIA] to assess the medication literacy of older home care patients to ultimately optimize medication safety.DesignThis study was part of the project 'Study of Medication Safety in Home Care' (doMESTIC), which took place from 2016 to 2020 in Switzerland. The development process for the medication literacy assessment instrument encompassed six steps.MethodFirst, a scoping literature search was conducted in the Pubmed, CINAHL, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases as 2) a basis for the development of assessment items. This was followed by 3) a cognitive interview with home care patients and 4) the first round of a Delphi process. Then, 5) a focus group interview with home care experts was conducted before 6) the second Delphi round. The project took place between August 2020 and June 2021. With these different steps, perspectives of both patients and various home care and medication safety experts were included in the development of the assessment instrument.ResultsA detailed instrument consisting of 20 items as well as a 7-item short version were developed. The short version is intended for efficient preliminary screening to identify patients at high risk for medication management-related problems.ConclusionMedication literacy in patients 65 years and older receiving professional home care is a key issue in preventing medication errors. A targeted assessment, starting with an efficient short version of MELIA, allows for prioritization of patients for interventions to optimize medication safety while ensuring their independence as much as possible.ImpactSystematic assessment of patients' medication literacy helps to provide them with targeted and individual support in their medication management to avoid medication errors and increase patient safety. The development of MELIA is a first step in providing an assessment instrument specifically for the home care setting.Patient or public contributionPatient participation was an integral part of the instrument development. The initial 23 items were optimized based on cognitive interviews with four home care patients. The next steps of the instrument development were based on feedback of health care professionals-encompassing advance practice nurses, regular nurses, pharmacists and general practitioners-during a two-step Delphi process as well as a focus group discussion.

Project description:BACKGROUND:As populations are aging, a growing number of home care clients are frail and use multiple, complex medications. Combined with the lack of coordination of care this may pose uncontrolled polypharmacy and potential patient safety risks. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a care coordination intervention on medication risks identified in drug regimens of older home care clients over a one-year period. METHODS:Two-arm, parallel, cluster randomized controlled trial with baseline and follow-up assessment at 12 months. The study was conducted in Primary Care in Lohja, Finland: all 5 home care units, the public healthcare center, and a private community pharmacy. PARTICIPANTS:All consented home care clients aged > 65 years, using at least one prescription medicine who were assessed at baseline and at 12 months. INTERVENTION:Practical nurses were trained to make the preliminary medication risk assessment during home visits and report findings to the coordinating pharmacist. The coordinating pharmacist prepared the cases for the triage meeting with the physician and home care nurse to decide on further actions. Each patient's physician made the final decisions on medication changes needed. Outcomes were measured as changes in medication risks: use of potentially inappropriate medications and psychotropics; anticholinergic and serotonergic load; drug-drug interactions. RESULTS:Participants (n = 129) characteristics: mean age 82.8 years, female 69.8%, mean number of prescription medicines in use 13.1. The intervention did not show an impact on the medication risks between the original intervention group and the control group in the intention to treat analysis, but the per protocol analysis indicated tendency for effectiveness, particularly in optimizing central nervous system medication use. Half (50.0%) of the participants with a potential need for medication changes, agreed on in the triage meeting, had none of the medication changes actually implemented. CONCLUSION:The care coordination intervention used in this study indicated tendency for effectiveness when implemented as planned. Even though the outcome of the intervention was not optimal, the value of this paper is in discussing the real world experiences and challenges of implementing new practices in home care. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02545257). Registered September 9 2015.

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Interprofessional medication assessment among home care patients: any impact on functioning? Results from a randomised controlled trial.

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Interprofessional medication assessment among home care patients: any impact on functioning? Results from a randomised controlled trial.

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