Development of a list of Australian potentially inappropriate medicines using the Delphi technique.

BACKGROUND: Older people are at high risk of medicines-related harms. otentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) list has been developed to assist clinicians and researchers to identify medicines with risks that may potentially outweigh their benefits in order to improve medication management and safety. AIM: To develop a list of PIMs for older people specific to Australia. METHODS: The study obtained expert consensus through the utilisation of the Delphi technique in Australia. A total of 33 experts partook in the initial round, while 32 experts engaged in the subsequent round. The primary outcomes encompass medicines assessed as potentially inappropriate, the specific contexts in which their inappropriateness arises and potentially safer alternatives. RESULTS: A total of 16 medicines or medicine classes had one or more medicines deemed as potentially inappropriate in older people. Up to 19 medicines or medicine classes had specific conditions that make them more potentially inappropriate, while alternatives were suggested for 16 medicines or classes. CONCLUSION: An explicit PIMs list for older people living in Australia has been developed containing 19 drugs/drug classes. The PIMs list is intended to be used as a guide for clinicians when assessing medication appropriateness in older people in Australian clinical settings and does not substitute individualised treatment advice from clinicians.

Exploring stakeholder roles in medication management for people living with dementia.

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic decision making, prescribing, administering and managing medications can be difficult for people with dementia. OBJECTIVES: To explore stakeholder roles in medication management for people with dementia, including barriers and enablers to achieving those roles. METHODS: Focus groups were held with stakeholders (consumers, general practitioners, nurses and pharmacists) from both rural and metropolitan communities in two Australian states. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using an inductive approach. RESULTS: Nine focus groups were held with 55 participants. Four major themes were identified: supporting the role of the person with dementia, carer roles and challenges, health professional roles, and process and structure barriers to medication management. Stakeholders discussed the importance of advance care planning, and the potential benefits of early implementation of dose administration aids to support patients in self-managing their medication. Carers were seen to have a vital role as patient advocates, but carer burden and changes in the patient-carer roles acted as barriers to this role. General practitioners were perceived as the main care coordinator for a person with dementia, with effective interprofessional collaboration and communication with allied health professionals and specialists further enabling optimisation of medication use. A lack of evidence, guidelines and practitioner training to guide prescribing and deprescribing decisions in people with dementia were mentioned as barriers to medication management. CONCLUSION: Medication management is increasingly challenging for people with dementia and each stakeholder perceives that they have a different role and faces different barriers and enablers. Future research should focus on improving the evidence base to guide prescribing, facilitating stakeholder communication and ensuring early documentation of patient wishes for the future.

Mild cognitive impairment: To diagnose or not to diagnose.

Older people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have a slight but noticeable decline in their cognitive function, though do not meet the diagnostic criteria for dementia. MCI is controversial, with some saying it is a condition that does not require diagnosis, and others stating that it is a genuine clinical syndrome. Many people with MCI will improve, and most will not progress to dementia. Managing co-morbidities and exercising are likely to be the best treatment options. With limited evidence for effective interventions and uncertainty as to the prognostic value of the condition, the benefit of diagnosing MCI remains unclear.

Embracing Cultural Diversity - Leadership Perspectives on Championing Meaningful Engagement for Residents Living with Advanced Dementia.

Resource constraints and high staff turnover are perceived as substantial barriers to high quality residential aged care. Achieving relationship-focused, person-centered care (PCC) is an ongoing challenge. This paper reports on an international project that explored how residential care leadership understand meaningful engagement for residents with dementia from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. This paper critically appraises the process, and outcomes, of an adapted Delphi method. Participants were the residential care leadership (i.e. staff in supervisory capacity) from four international facilities. Participation in the Delphi process was limited even though surveys were designed to require minimal time for completion. No participants opted for the alternative option of being interviewed. Findings indicate that residential care leadership recognised the importance of meaningful engagement for residents from CALD backgrounds. Limitations of time, resources and policy infrastructure were cited as barriers to achieving PCC. These findings suggest that facility leadership understand the importance of PCC, but identify multiple barriers rather than enablers for delivering PCC. Alternative methods, such as collecting data in interactive sessions allowing real-time discussion should be initiated to more effectively engage residential care leaders for a collaborative approach to explore PCC practices.

A mixed methods process evaluation of a person-centred falls prevention program.

BACKGROUND: RESPOND is a telephone-based falls prevention program for older people who present to a hospital emergency department (ED) with a fall. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) found RESPOND to be effective at reducing the rate of falls and fractures, compared with usual care, but not fall injuries or hospitalisations. This process evaluation aimed to determine whether RESPOND was implemented as planned, and identify implementation barriers and facilitators. METHODS: A mixed-methods evaluation was conducted alongside the RCT. Evaluation participants were the RESPOND intervention group (n = 263) and the clinicians delivering RESPOND (n = 7). Evaluation data were collected from participant recruitment and intervention records, hospital administrative records, audio-recordings of intervention sessions, and participant questionnaires. The Rochester Participatory Decision-Making Scale (RPAD) was used to evaluate person-centredness (score range 0 (worst) - 9 (best)). Process factors were compared with pre-specified criteria to determine implementation fidelity. Six focus groups were held with participants (n = 41), and interviews were conducted with RESPOND clinicians (n = 6). Quantitative data were analysed descriptively and qualitative data thematically. Barriers and facilitators to implementation were mapped to the 'Capability, Opportunity, Motivation - Behaviour' (COM-B) behaviour change framework. RESULTS: RESPOND was implemented at a lower dose than the planned 10 h over 6 months, with a median (IQR) of 2.9 h (2.1, 4). The majority (76%) of participants received their first intervention session within 1 month of hospital discharge with a median (IQR) of 18 (12, 30) days. Clinicians delivered the program in a person-centred manner with a median (IQR) RPAD score of 7 (6.5, 7.5) and 87% of questionnaire respondents were satisfied with the program. The reports from participants and clinicians suggested that implementation was facilitated by the use of positive and personally relevant health messages. Complex health and social issues were the main barriers to implementation. CONCLUSIONS: RESPOND was person-centred and reduced falls and fractures at a substantially lower dose, using fewer resources, than anticipated. However, the low dose delivered may account for the lack of effect on falls injuries and hospitalisations. The results from this evaluation provide detailed information to guide future implementation of RESPOND or similar programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number ACTRN12614000336684 (27 March 2014).

Multifactorial falls prevention programmes for older adults presenting to the emergency department with a fall: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether multifactorial falls prevention interventions are effective in preventing falls, fall injuries, emergency department (ED) re-presentations and hospital admissions in older adults presenting to the ED with a fall. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). DATA SOURCES: Four health-related electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PEDro and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) were searched (inception to June 2018). STUDY SELECTION: RCTs of multifactorial falls prevention interventions targeting community-dwelling older adults ( ≥ 60 years) presenting to the ED with a fall with quantitative data on at least one review outcome. DATA EXTRACTION: Two independent reviewers determined inclusion, assessed study quality and undertook data extraction, discrepancies resolved by a third. DATA SYNTHESIS: 12 studies involving 3986 participants, from six countries, were eligible for inclusion. Studies were of variable methodological quality. Multifactorial interventions were heterogeneous, though the majority included education, referral to healthcare services, home modifications, exercise and medication changes. Meta-analyses demonstrated no reduction in falls (rate ratio = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.58 to 1.05), number of fallers (risk ratio = 1.02; 95% CI: 0.88 to 1.18), rate of fractured neck of femur (risk ratio = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.53 to 1.25), fall-related ED presentations (rate ratio = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.84 to 1.16) or hospitalisations (rate ratio = 1.14; 95% CI: 0.69 to 1.89) with multifactorial falls prevention programmes. CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to support the use of multifactorial interventions to prevent falls or hospital utilisation in older people presenting to ED following a fall. Further research targeting this population group is required.

Exploring the enablers and barriers to implementing the Medication Appropriateness Tool for Comorbid Health conditions during Dementia (MATCH-D) criteria in Australia: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: The Medication Appropriateness Tool for Comorbid Health conditions in Dementia (MATCH-D) criteria provide expert consensus guidance about medication use for people with dementia. This study aimed to identify enablers and barriers to implementing the criteria in practice. SETTING: Participants came from both rural and metropolitan communities in two Australian states. PARTICIPANTS: Focus groups were held with consumers, general practitioners, nurses and pharmacists. OUTCOMES: data were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Nine focus groups were conducted. Fifty-five participants validated the content of MATCH-D, appraising them as providing patient-centred principles of care. Participants identified potential applications (including the use of MATCH-D as a discussion aid or educational tool for consumers about medicines) and suggested supporting resources. CONCLUSION: Participants provided insights into applying MATCH-D in practice and suggested resources to be included in an accompanying toolkit. These data provide external validation of MATCH-D and an empiric basis for their translation to practice. Following resource development, we plan to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of implementation in practice.

Measurement properties of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) among older adults who present to the emergency department after a fall: a Rasch analysis.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy is an important concept associated with participation in preventive health initiatives, such as falls prevention programs. A comprehensive health literacy measurement tool, appropriate for this population, is required. The aim of this study was to evaluate the measurement properties of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) in a cohort of older adults who presented to a hospital emergency department (ED) after a fall. METHODS: Older adults who presented to an ED after a fall had their health literacy assessed using the HLQ (n = 433). Data were collected as part of a multi-centre randomised controlled trial of a falls prevention program. Measurement properties of the HLQ were assessed using Rasch analysis. RESULTS: All nine scales of the HLQ were unidimensional, with good internal consistency reliability. No item bias was found for most items (43 of 44). A degree of overall misfit to the Rasch model was evident for six of the nine HLQ scales. The majority of misfit indicated content overlap between some items and does not compromise measurement. A measurement gap was identified for this cohort at mid to high HLQ score. CONCLUSIONS: The HLQ demonstrated good measurement properties in a cohort of older adults who presented to an ED after a fall. The summation of the HLQ items within each scale, providing unbiased information on nine separate areas of health literacy, is supported. Clinicians, researchers and policy makers may have confidence using the HLQ scale scores to gain information about health literacy in older people presenting to the ED after a fall. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number ACTRN12614000336684 (27 March 2014).

The feasibility and effect of deprescribing in older adults on mortality and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIMS: Deprescribing is a suggested intervention to reverse the potential iatrogenic harms of inappropriate polypharmacy. The review aimed to determine whether or not deprescribing is a safe, effective and feasible intervention to modify mortality and health outcomes in older adults. METHODS: Specified databases were searched from inception to February 2015. Two researchers independently screened all retrieved articles for inclusion, assessed study quality and extracted data. Data were pooled using RevMan v5.3. Eligible studies included those where older adults had at least one medication deprescribed. The primary outcome was mortality. Secondary outcomes were adverse drug withdrawal events, psychological and physical health outcomes, quality of life, and medication usage (e.g. successful deprescribing, number of medications prescribed, potentially inappropriate medication use). RESULTS: A total of 132 papers met the inclusion criteria, which included 34 143 participants aged 73.8 ± 5.4 years. In nonrandomized studies, deprescribing polypharmacy was shown to significantly decrease mortality (OR 0.32, 95% CI: 0.17-0.60). However, this was not statistically significant in the randomized studies (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.61-1.11). Subgroup analysis revealed patient-specific interventions to deprescribe demonstrated a significant reduction in mortality (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.43-0.88). However, generalized educational programmes did not change mortality (OR 1.21, 95% CI 0.86-1.69). CONCLUSIONS: Although nonrandomized data suggested that deprescribing reduces mortality, deprescribing was not shown to alter mortality in randomized studies. Mortality was significantly reduced when applying patient-specific interventions to deprescribe in randomized studies.

Deprescribing in frail older people--Do doctors and pharmacists agree?

BACKGROUND: Deprescribing may reduce harmful polypharmacy in older people and is an accepted clinical practice; however, data to guide deprescribing decisions are scarce. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine if physicians and pharmacists agree on medicines to deprescribe. METHODS: Two physicians and two pharmacists independently applied a deprescribing decision-making aid to clinical and medicines data collected during a deprescribing trial of frail older people in four residential aged care facilities. The consensus list of medicines selected for deprescribing by the physicians was compared with the consensus list selected by the pharmacists. Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) was used to assess agreement in the number of medicines, and agreement on each specific medicine was assessed using the level 2 intra-cluster correlation (ICC) for medicine within patient. RESULTS: Physicians and pharmacists had substantial agreement on the number of medicines to deprescribe (CCC = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.82), with a difference of 1.8 ± 2.0 total targeted medicines. For specific medicines, the agreement was moderate (ICC = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.58). When considering only orally administered medicines, physicians and pharmacists had substantial agreement (CCC = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.84) in the number of medicines, but only moderate agreement for the specific medicines (ICC = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: Physicians and pharmacists had substantial agreement in the number of medicines they targeted to deprescribe and to continue, but physicians targeted a greater number of medicines for deprescribing than pharmacists. However, they had only moderate agreement in the specific medicines to deprescribe. This suggests that the deprescribing decision-making aid is a useful tool for health professionals to use when considering medicines to deprescribe.

Poisoning among older people with dementia: a wake up call.

Medical care can be both "a blessing and a curse". The contributions of medicines to increased human lifespan and falling mortality from the major cardiovascular diseases are undisputed. However, in lockstep with remarkable extension of human lifespan has been increase in the numbers of people living with chronic age related neurodegenerative conditions and frailty. In frail, multi-morbid populations, with limited homeostatic reserve and life expectancy, the balance between the risk and harms of medicines can be in equipoise. In this context the number of older people living with dementia is increasing, and understanding threats to the quality of life of people with dementia is of growing significance. Among the myriad potential causes of harm to older people with dementia, in this issue of the journal Mitchell and colleagues present new Australian data reminding us of the importance of admissions due to both intentional and unintentional poisoning.

Prevalence of oropharyngeal antibiotic-resistant flora among residents of aged care facilities: a pilot study.

Residents in 11 long-term care facilities, and presenting to a single tertiary hospital site, were sampled to estimate prevalence of oropharyngeal colonization with resistant Gram-negative bacteria. From 124 residents, only one isolate (0.8%; 95% confidence interval 0.0%, 4.4) was multi-resistant (an extended-spectrum ß-lactamase producing Escherichia coli) indicating that different treatment recommendations for respiratory infections in this population may not be justified.

Vascular cognitive impairment in dementia.

Vascular risk factors and cerebrovascular disease are common causes of dementia. Shared risk factors for vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, as well as frequent coexistence of these pathologies in cognitively impaired older people, suggests convergence of the aetiology, prevention and management of the commonest dementias affecting older people. In light of this understanding, the cognitive impairment associated with cerebrovascular disease is an increasingly important and recognised area of the medicine of older people. Although the incidence of cerebrovascular events is declining in many populations, the overall burden associated with brain vascular disease will continue to increase associated with population ageing. A spectrum of cognitive disorders related to cerebrovascular disease is now recognised. Cerebrovascular disease in older people is associated with specific clinical and imaging findings. Although prevention remains the cornerstone of management, the diagnosis of brain vascular disease is important because of the potential to improve clinical outcomes through clear diagnosis, enhanced control of risk factors, lifestyle interventions and secondary prevention. Specific pharmacological intervention may also be indicated for some patients with cognitive impairment and cerebrovascular disease. However the evidence base to guide intervention remains relatively sparse.