Lessons Learned From Implementation of the Indiana SMART Campaign to Reduce Nursing Home Polypharmacy

Polypharmacy among nursing home (NH) residents is prevalent, potentially hazardous, and can be reduced if prescribing guidelines and processes such as in-depth medication reviews are properly implemented.1 –4 Given the known hazards of NH polypharmacy, why does the problem persist? Several approaches have demonstrated success in reducing polypharmacy among NH residents, including multidisciplinary care conferences involving geriatric specialist physicians and pharmacists,1 targeting residents most a t risk of adverse drug events for supplemental pharmacist review,2 medication review followed by targeted deprescribing protocols,3 and increased input from geriatric specialists and geriatric fellows.

Source: Journal of the American Medical Directors Association - October 9, 2019 Category: Health Management Authors: Kathleen Abrahamson, Kathleen Unroe, Kristi Lieb, Tochukwu Iloabuchi, Robert Russell, Yun Cai, Arif Nazir Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research