Abstract

Adults 65 years and older are at increased risk for complications of drug therapy and are vulnerable to medication prescribing patterns of poor quality because of age-related changes, comorbidities, polypharmacy, and medication interactions. Potentially inappropriate medications contribute to adverse drug events, falls, delirium, and gastrointestinal bleeding and are deemed preventable. The aim of this intervention was to increase practitioners' knowledge and confidence to identify which medications are potentially inappropriate medications for older adults by implementing the skill-training educational intervention for 79 practitioners using the Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medications use in older adults and high risk Centers for Medicaid and Medicare medications. This was a one group pre and posttest design study from February 2014-March 2015. Results showed an increase improvement in practitioners' knowledge of identifying potentially inappropriate medications by 69.63%, confidence level by 27% and decrease in the number of potentially inappropriate medications filled by 36%, post intervention. Findings suggest by increasing a practitioner's knowledge and confidence to identify potentially inappropriate medications, potentially inappropriate medications could be decreased, thus improving patient outcomes.

Authors and Affiliations