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Completed

NCT Number: NCT00279656

Benefit of a Collaborative Approach to Improve the Quality of Medicines Use in Elderly Inpatients

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a collaborative approach (geriatric care involving the collaboration with a clinical pharmacist) to optimize the prescription of medicines for elderly inpatients.

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Key information

Conditions

Frail Elderly Inpatient

Age range

70 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 4

Primary location

Université catholique de Louvain

Brussels, 1200, Belgium

About this study

Widespread evidence reveals frequent inadequate use of medicines in elderly patients. This includes inappropriate prescribing (overuse, underuse, misuse) that can lead to adverse drug events and drug-related admissions to hospital. In addition, when a patient is transferred from acute care settings to ambulatory care settings, discrepancies in medicines used often occur and can be hazardous.

Despite this, only limited data exist on the effectiveness of optimization strategies targeted at frail elderly inpatients.

Comparison: elderly inpatients receiving geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) care versus elderly inpatients receiving pharmaceutical care in addition to GEM care.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patient admitted on the acute geriatric unit of the university teaching hospital Mont-Godinne, Belgium

Exclusion criteria

  • a terminal illness and life expectancy of less than 3 month
  • expected length of stay of 2 days or less
  • transfer from another unit where the patient had already been cared for by a GEM team
  • refusal to participate
  • inclusion during previous admission
  • no time for the clinical pharmacist to compound the abstracted chart within 3 days of admission

Treatment and study plan

Pharmaceutical Care

Behavioral

Primary outcomes

  1. Appropriateness of prescribing (using the Medication Appropriateness Index, the Beers criteria, and the ACOVE criteria of underuse) on admission, at discharge, and 3 months post-discharge

Secondary outcomes

  1. Polymedication on admission, at discharge, and 1,3,12 months after discharge

  2. Mortality, readmission to hospital and visit to the emergency department 1,3,12 months after discharge

  3. Satisfaction with information received on medicines

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Université Catholique de Louvain

Other

Collaborators

  • Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique

Registry information

Official study title

Collaborative Approach to Improve the Quality of Medicines Use in Elderly Inpatients - Randomized Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start
2003
Study completion
2005
First posted
Jan 19, 2006
Registry last updated
Jan 19, 2006

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.