Deprescribing And What It Can Do For Your Residents

by | Sep 28, 2023 | Antibiotic Stewardship, Care Coordination, Chronic Disease Self-Management, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals, Medication Safety, Nursing Home Quality, Patient Safety, Q Tip Podcast, Quality Care Coalition

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Deprescribing medications is being studied to help nursing home residents. A new report has provided guidance for safety by “deprescribing” the amount of drugs being administered to nursing home residents, where it is estimated half or more are prescribed 9 or more medications. The United Hospital Fund collaborated with six New York City-area nonprofit facilities to begin reducing the number of medications being given to seniors as the cumulative effects of multiple medications can be detrimental to overall health.

This program discovered that the number of residents that were taking 10 or medications actually decreased. After implementing deprescribing interventions, they noticed a big change. The program started changing medication review processes, increased staff, and provided more resident and family education to help these patients.

In one instance, a facility found that its psychiatry partner “was a key driver” of a high number of prescriptions, which decreased after getting the prescriber’s buy-in to the program to reduce medications. Another facility held weekly nutrition meetings between the medical director and dieticians to determine the necessity of multivitamin regimens.

The report noted that the average number of medications prescribed per resident decreased from 10.7 to 8.7 over the course of the program’s first year. In one instance, successfully “deprescribing” dementia medication to an underweight patient resulted in the man’s appetite improving and gaining weight. One of the participating facilities reported saving $40,000 in pharmacy bills within seven weeks of beginning its intervention programs.

Read The Full Report Learn About Deprescribing Guidelines and Algorithms

Friday Focus GearsCheck out our Focus 4 Health January Series: Adverse Drug Events

          • Week One: Strategies to Prevent Adverse Drug Events: Recording
          • Week Two: Tactics to Reduce ADE’s with Prescribing & Transcribing of Medications: Recording
          • Week Three: Dispensing and Administration: Recording
          • Week Four: How Care Coordination Can Help in Preventing ADE’s: Recording

 

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Need more information about Adverse Drug Events? Listen to our Podcast: Q-Tips For Your Ears

What Are Adverse Drug Events? Adverse drug events happen every day and can occur with anyone who is taking a medicine. What is an adverse drug event, how does it happen and what can I do to help reduce the risk? Take a few minutes to listen and learn more.