The Interprofessional Medication Assessment for Older Patients

East Savo Hospital District

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Polypharmacy; Multimorbidity

Treatments: Other: Medication assessment and treatment plan based on it

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02398812

ILMA

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of this pragmatic multi-center randomized controlled trial is to test the effectiveness of interprofessional medication assessment in older patients needing home care due to their diseases or decreased functional capacity in primary care. The main hypothesis is that intervention has a positive impact on functional capacity and for rational and safe use of medicines.

Full description

Aging increases the risk of adverse effects and interactions caused by medication. Medication reconciliation and medication review are well-known practices to optimize medicines use. Both interventions usually require a team-based approach to be effective. Medication reconciliation is the process of obtaining and documenting a complete and accurate list of current patient medications and comparing this list with medication orders at each point of care transition to identify and rectify any discrepancies before patient harm occurs. Medication review is the process of evaluating current medication treatment to manage the risk and optimize the outcomes of medication treatment by detecting, solving, and preventing medication-related problems. The present study focuses on medication assessment including both medication reconciliation and review combined to clinical assessment of an individual patient.

According to a systematic review there is a need for research focusing on medication management in community settings and especially to assess the impact of medication assessment on clinical outcomes.

Enrollment: 514 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Home dwelling ≥65 years-old persons registered to public home care services and who

1. have had dizziness, orthostatic hypotension or have fallen or
2. use at least six medicines

Exclusion criteria

Home care is not responsible for patient's medication, for example due to severe chronic illness (for example severe renal insufficiency or cancer with active treatment in secondary or tertiary care).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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514 participants in 2 patient groups

Active comparator

Active Comparator group

Description:

In addition to usual care, participants allocated to intervention group will receive medication assessment and treatment plan based on it

Treatment:

Other: Medication assessment and treatment plan based on it

Usual care

No Intervention group

Description:

Usual care (reference group).