RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the effect of clinical pharmacy interventions on the unplanned rehospitalisation rates of elderly people admitted following a fall to the emergency medical treatment for the elderly unit (médecine d'urgence de la personne âgée [MUPA]) in a teaching hospital. DESIGN AND MEASURES: this was a longitudinal, comparative pilot study. Patients aged at least 75 who were admitted to the MUPA unit following a fall, who had at least two chronic diseases, and who were being treated with two or more medications were included between 1 February 2018 and 30 June 2018 and were followed for 90 days. The main outcomes were the unplanned rehospitalisation rate at Limoges Teaching Hospital within the 90 days (primary outcome), 30 days and 72 h. The estimated cost-saving was also assessed. RESULTS: 252 patients were included. The mean age was 88.4 ± 5.8 years and the average baseline number of medications was 8.3 ± 3.4. In total, 158 pharmaceutical interventions were performed, reflecting an acceptance rate of 94.9%. We found a significant reduction in the rate of unplanned rehospitalisations at 90 days (OR = 0.45 (0.26-0.79) P = 0.005). These results were also consistent at 30 days (P = 0.035) and 72 h (P = 0.041). We found a cost-saving of 37770 related to 21 avoided rehospitalisations. CONCLUSIONS: our results strongly emphasise the positive effects of clinical pharmacy services on the prevention of unplanned rehospitalisations of elderly patients admitted following a fall.
RESUMO
To evaluate the effect of clinical pharmacy interventions on the unplanned rehospitalizations rates of elderly people admitted for fall to the elderly emergency medicine (EEM) unit in a teaching hospital. DESIGN AND MEASURES: This was a longitudinal, comparative pilot study. Patients aged at least 75 who were admitted to the EEM unit for a fall and who had at least two chronic diseases and who were being treated with two or more medications were included from February 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018 and followed by 90 days. The main outcomes were the unplanned rehospitalizations rate at Limoges Teaching Hospital within the 90 days (primary outcome), 30 days and 72 hrs. The estimated cost-saving was also assessed. RESULTS: We included 252 patients. The mean age was 88.4 ± 5.8 years and the average baseline number of medications was 8.3 ± 3.4. In total, 158 pharmaceutical interventions were performed, reflecting an acceptance rate of 94.9%. We found a significant reduction of the rate of unplanned rehospitalizations at 90-day (OR = 0.45 (0.26-0.79) p = 0.005). These results were still consistent at 30-day (p = 0.035) and 72 hours (p = 0.041). We found a cost-saving of 37,770 euros related to 21 avoided rehospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highly emphasize the positive effects of clinical pharmacy services on the prevention of unplanned rehospitalizations of old adults admitted for fall.