Appropriate polypharmacy in older people in primary care (Version 1.0)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A feasibility study of an intervention to improve appropriate polypharmacy in older people in primary care
IRAS ID
182066
Contact name
Carmel Hughes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 17 days
Research summary
Medicines are prescribed to treat medical conditions and to improve health. Sometimes, too many medicines are prescribed and they may not be always appropriate. On the other hand, medicines are not always prescribed when they should be. There may be several reasons for this, such as difficulties patients have with taking many medicines at the same time. Some studies have tried to improve this and ensure that patients are prescribed all the medicines they require. However, many have not been successful. This may be because studies have not considered the views and opinions of patients, healthcare professionals and their joint decision-making about which medicines are required. We want to develop a plan that will improve medicine use in older patients, with patients and healthcare professionals helping us to do so.
This research project consists of three phases, two of which were completed following ethical approval in 2013 (13/NI/0114). The first phase involved identifying the evidence base to develop a plan (intervention) to improve the prescribing of appropriate polypharmacy for older patients. We looked to identify the key aspects of successful studies that have led to prescribing improvements in older patients by updating a previously published systematic review. The second phase consisted of interviews with healthcare professionals involved in prescribing (General Practitioners) and in dispensing medicines (Community Pharmacists) for older people, to get their views on how this plan could be developed. We also conducted focus groups with patients, to determine their views of taking several medicines, and how this could be improved. Using all the data from Phases 1 and 2, we have developed a plan of how to improve prescribing for older people. In the project's third and final phase, we will test our plan in two general practices in Northern Ireland to see how it works in practice.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
15/NI/0104
Date of REC Opinion
29 May 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion