BACKGROUND Inappropriate prescribing in the elderly is common, but rates across different health care systems and the impact of formulary restrictions are not well described. OBJECTIVE To determine if rates of inappropriate medication use in the elderly differ between the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system and the private sector Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) patients. ...

BACKGROUND Clinical pharmacist interventions have been shown to have positive effect on occurrence of drug-related issues as well as on clinical outcomes. However, evidence about which patients benefiting most from the interventions is limited. We aimed to explore whether pharmacist intervention is equally effective in preventing emergency department (ED) visits in patients with few or many pre...

BACKGROUND There are limited published data on the types and appropriateness of oral and intravenous (IV) antibiotics prescribed to patients receiving haemodialysis. This information is critical to optimise antibiotic prescribing. Therefore this study aims to describe the patterns of use and the appropriateness of oral and IV antibiotics prescribed to patients receiving haemodialysis. METHODS...

Abstract Background Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing (PIP) as identified by STOPP/START criteria is associated with poor patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent reduction in PIP achieved Shared Decision Making (SDM) employed pharmacists delivering, comprehensive, person-centred medication reviews part EU INTERREG-VA funded iSIMPATHY project. relationship...