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Project

The effect of a transitional pharmacist intervention in geriatric inpatients on hospital visits after discharge (ASPIRE): a randomized controlled trial. (ASPIRE)

Inappropriate prescribing in older adults is regarded as a major and urgent healthcare problem. It has been associated with a substantial burden of iatrogenic morbidity, including adverse drug events. In particular older adults are regularly admitted to the hospital due to a multitude of drug-related problems, including the underuse of indicated therapies. A large part of these admissions is considered to be avoidable. After hospital discharge, older adults are equally at increased risk for all-cause as well as drug-related hospital readmissions. Contemporary, robust trial data on best practices to manage iatrogenic drug-related morbidity are mostly non-existent. This lack of evidence is even more apparent in geriatric inpatients, who suffer from a very high risk of drug-related problems and readmissions. Hence, the need to improve pharmacotherapy while ensuring appropriate transitional care should be considered the most pressing issue in this geriatric inpatient population. In this project, we aim to improve the pharmacotherapy trajectory for inpatients admitted to acute geriatric care wards. The intervention will consist of a multifaceted pharmacist intervention, comprising a medication review, patient education and a transitional care step.

Therefore, we will design and perform a longitudinal controlled trial to create and validate a model to improve the patient trajectory. The primary outcome will be the time to an unplanned hospital visit. Secondary outcomes include other important health problems including mortality, number of falls, adverse drug reactions, quality of life, pain, medication adherence, cost effectiveness, the number of medications and number of potentially inappropriate medications.

Date:1 Apr 2020 →  31 Mar 2022
Keywords:geriatric, pharmacist intervention
Disciplines:Geriatrics