Reducing Post-discharge Adverse Drug Events Amongst the Elderly: a Multi-centre Electronic Deprescribing Intervention

Launched by MCGILL UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTRE/RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE MCGILL UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTRE · Sep 1, 2017

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Polypharmacy, or the concomitant use of 5 drugs or more, is a serious health concern and affects more than half of Canadians aged 65 years and older. It is the number one identifiable risk factor for adverse drug events (ADEs), which are responsible for 27,000 hospital admissions annually in Canada and up to 20% of return visits to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. Many ADEs are preventable or ameliorable through interventions to reduce inappropriate prescribing.

MedSafer, the intervention software, applies an electronic set of criteria, previously designed and piloted on one thous...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • patients aged 65 years and older
• • patients who take five or more medications in the community
• • patients who are cognitively impaired or otherwise unable to provide consent will still be included as this subpopulation of patients may be at greatest risk of ADEs because of their communication problems.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • patients who take four or fewer medications in the community
• • patients expected to die within 30 days or be transferred to a palliative care unit/another hospital
• • patients without provincial health insurance or who normally live outside that province
• • patients previously enrolled
• • inability for patient or proxy to speak English or French
• • no means of contacting patient or proxy post-discharge
• • Patients discharged from non-study units will be excluded unless that unit is a transitional care, rehabilitation, or post-acute care unit which bridges the gap between acute medical hospitalization and community services.