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Pharmacist Led Intervention to Improve Medication Use in Older In-patients Living With Frailty: the Drug Burden Index

NCT03698487 · Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 200

Last updated 2024-02-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Older people in Canada commonly take multiple medicines for their health conditions. Certain medicines, especially when taken together can lead to serious harms, such as falls. As people age and their health changes, medicines that were once helpful may become harmful. Healthcare professionals recognise that better tools and procedures are needed to make sure that people are taking the right medicines at the right time.

A tool has been recently created, called the Drug Burden Index (DBI) Calculator©, to be used by hospital pharmacists. It helps them identify which medicines (and combinations of medicines) are harmful to older people. This tool also produces reports for the doctor and for the older person and their family.

In this study, hospital pharmacists will use the DBI calculator© during their normal activities. The investigators will measure what effect this has on the medicines used and health outcomes in older adults. The investigators are also interested in what influences use and impact of the calculator. For example, there may be differences in use in older males compared to females or in the benefits seen in people living with frailty compared to those who are not frail. Use of the DBI calculator© may lead to improvements in how medicines are managed in hospital. This would mean less drug costs and drug side effects. Overall, the project may lead to improving the quality of life for older Canadians.

Hypothesis: Implementation of a ward-based, pharmacist-led intervention utilizing the DBI Calculator© will lead to optimization of medications, reduced DBI and improved health outcomes in frail and non-frail older adults.

Conditions

  • Sedative Adverse Reaction
  • Anticholinergic Adverse Reaction

Interventions

OTHER

Intervention

Pharmacist-led medication optimization intervention using an electronic tool (DBI Calculator©). The DBI Calculator is an electronic tool which calculates a score from the medication reconciliation list (medications taken prior to admission). It also creates a 'DBI report' which includes their full medication list, their DBI score, an explanation of the risks associated with their DBI score and highlighted medications which are contributing to their DBI score (that is, high risk medications which may be suitable for deprescribing).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Canadian Frailty Network

    collaborator OTHER

  • Emily

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
70 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-02-06
Primary Completion
2024-08-31
Completion
2024-08-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03698487 on ClinicalTrials.gov