Polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medications: a cross-sectional analysis among 451 nursing homes in France

Abstract

This study shows that polypharmacy and PIMs remain highly prevalent among nursing home residents. Main PIMs concerned psychotropic and anticholinergic medications.

Impact of medication reviews on inappropriate prescribing in aged care

“…By placing restrictions on these services, there is a concern that residents in aged care facilities would be more likely to be exposed to avoidable drug-related harm and thereby potentially worse clinical outcomes. This is especially problematic in this high risk group due to the prevalence of polypharmacy and inappropriate prescribing despite the development and implementation of multiple clinical programs and interventions that aim to solve this issue [33,34,35,36].…”

Medication administration and interruptions in nursing homes: A qualitative observational study

“…Alongside a growing elderly population, there are demands for increased collaboration between primary care and specialist healthcare (Cardoso, Oliveira, Barbosa‐Póvoa, & Nickel, ; Monkerud & Tjerbo, ). This has led to nursing homes caring for patients who often have multiple and complex diagnoses and a high prevalence of polypharmacy (Herr et al., ). This is also the case in Norwegian nursing homes where increased collaboration with the specialist healthcare service has led to nursing homes being required to receive patients from hospitals as soon as they are ready for discharge, and incurring punitive economic sanctions if failing to meet those demands.…”

Reducing potentially inappropriate drug prescribing in nursing home residents: effectiveness of a geriatric intervention

“…With advancing age, there is an increased risk of multimorbidity , which results in multiple drugs being prescribed . This polypharmacy has been identified as the main determinant of potentially inappropriate drug prescribing (PIDP) , highly prevalent in nursing home (NH) residents ranging from 11.5% to 62.5% , and may contribute to adverse outcomes . PIDP is associated with greater use to health care systems and to poor quality of life.…”