Prescribing Outcomes of a GP-Targeted Deprescribing Educational Intervention: A Cluster Randomized Trial

University of Crete

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Polypharmacy; Medication Overuse; Frailty Syndrome; Deprescriptions

Treatments: Other: Medication Reviews and Deprescribing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06470308

93/12.06.2023

Details and patient eligibility

About

Polypharmacy is a common and growing public health concern across healthcare settings worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug events. Deprescribing-defined as the supervised withdrawal of potentially inappropriate medications using structured tools and clinical judgment-has been proposed as a strategy to improve prescribing safety. In Greece, formal initiatives and evidence evaluating deprescribing interventions in primary care remain limited.

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of an educational intervention for general practitioners (GPs) on prescribing safety in primary care. Participating GPs are randomized in an approximately 1:1 ratio to an intervention or control arm. GPs in the intervention arm receive structured education and training on medication review and deprescribing, including the use of validated deprescribing tools such as the Beers Criteria. GPs in the control arm provide usual care and do not receive any educational intervention.

Patients receiving care from participating GPs are recruited, and prescribing outcomes are assessed at the patient level. The primary outcome is change in prescription medications following the intervention, comparing patients cared for by GPs in the intervention arm versus those cared for by GPs in the control arm.

Enrollment: 200 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• community-dwelling patients
• Age ≥ 65 years
• Receive at least 5 medication ( polypharmacy )

Exclusion criteria

• hospitalized or patients living in nursing home
• Incapable of giving written consent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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200 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention Arm

Experimental group

Description:

An educational intervention and training in deprescribing algorithms and deprescribing tools ( Beers Criteria) will be provided to the general practitioners caring for the patients selected in the intervention arm.

Treatment:

Other: Medication Reviews and Deprescribing

Control Arm

No Intervention group

Description:

No educational intervention will be provided to the general practitioners of the selected patients.