Process, impact and outcomes of medication review in Australian residential aged care facilities: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review literature reporting processes, impact and outcomes of medication review and reconciliation in Australian residential aged care facilities (RACFs). METHODS: PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Informit Health and grey literature were searched from 1995 to July 2018. Studies reporting outcomes of a stand-alone medication review or reconciliation interventions in Australian RACFs were included. RESULTS: Thirteen studies investigated medication review, eight of which studied Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMRs). Five studies reported that medication reviews identified an average of 2.7-3.9 medication-related problems (MRPs) per resident. One study reported medication reviews had no impact on quality of life, hospitalisation or mortality, but was not powered to assess these. Three studies reported general practitioners' acceptance of pharmacists' recommendations to resolve MRPs, ranging between 45 and 84%. CONCLUSIONS: Medication review may be a useful strategy to identify and prompt resolution of MRPs. However, the impact on clinical and resident-centred outcomes remains unclear.

Protocol for a non-randomised pilot and feasibility study evaluating a multicomponent intervention to simplify medication regimens for people receiving community-based home care services.

INTRODUCTION: Managing medication regimens is one of the most complex and burdensome tasks performed by older people, and can be prone to errors. People living with dementia may require medication administration assistance from formal and informal caregivers. Simplified medication regimens maintain the same therapeutic intent, but have less complex instructions and administration schedules. This protocol paper outlines a study to determine the feasibility of a multicomponent intervention to simplify medication regimens for people receiving community-based home care services. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a non-randomised pilot and feasibility study. Research nurses will recruit 50 people receiving community-based home care services. All participants will receive the intervention from a clinical pharmacist, who will undertake medication reconciliation, assess each participant's capacity to self-manage their medication regimen and apply a structured tool to identify opportunities for medication simplification. The pharmacist will communicate recommendations regarding medication simplification to registered nurses at the community-based home care provider organisation. The primary outcome will be a description of study feasibility (recruitment and retention rates, protocol adherence and stakeholder acceptability). Secondary outcomes include the change in number of medication administration times per day, medication adherence, quality of life, participant satisfaction, medication incidents, falls and healthcare utilisation at 4 months. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was obtained from the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee and the community-based home care provider organisation's ethical review panel. Research findings will be disseminated to consumers and caregivers, health professionals, researchers and healthcare providers through the National Health and Medical Research Council Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre and through conference presentations, lay summaries and peer-reviewed publications. This study will enable an improved understanding of medication management and administration among people receiving community-based home care services. This study will inform the decision to proceed with a randomised controlled trial to assess the effect of this intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12618001130257; Pre-results.

SImplification of Medications Prescribed to Long-tErm care Residents (SIMPLER): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Complex medication regimens are highly prevalent in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Strategies to reduce unnecessary complexity may be valuable because complex medication regimens can be burdensome for residents and are costly in terms of nursing time. The aim of this study is to investigate application of a structured process to simplify medication administration in RACFs. METHODS: SImplification of Medications Prescribed to Long-tErm care Residents (SIMPLER) is a non-blinded, matched-pair, cluster randomised controlled trial of a single multidisciplinary intervention to simplify medication regimens. Trained study nurses will recruit English-speaking, permanent residents from eight South Australian RACFs. Medications taken by residents in the intervention arm will be assessed once using a structured tool (the Medication Regimen Simplification Guide for Residential Aged CarE) to identify opportunities to reduce medication regimen complexity (e.g. by administering medications at the same time, or through the use of longer-acting or combination formulations). Residents in the comparison group will receive routine care. Participants will be followed for up to 36 months after study entry. The primary outcome measure will be the total number of charted medication administration times at 4 months after study entry. Secondary outcome measures will include time spent administering medications, medication incidents, resident satisfaction, quality of life, falls, hospitalisation and mortality. Individual-level analyses that account for clustering will be undertaken to determine the impact of the intervention on the study outcomes. DISCUSSION: Ethical approval has been obtained from the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee and the aged care provider organisation. Research findings will be disseminated through conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications. SIMPLER will enable an improved understanding of the burden of medication use in RACFs and quantify the impact of regimen simplification on a range of outcomes important to residents and care providers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12617001060336 . Retrospectively registered on 20 July 2017.