Optimising prescribing in care homes using pharmacogenomics

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    OPTIMISING PRESCRIBING IN CARE HOMES USING PHARMACOGENOMICS: A MIXED METHODS EXPLORATORY STUDY

  • IRAS ID

    363909

  • Contact name

    Helen Smith

  • Contact email

    h.e.smith2@keele.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Keele University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 1 months, 26 days

  • Research summary

    What is the problem?
    Older people are more likely to have multiple health conditions and to take more than one medication. As medications can cause side effects, it is important to make sure that prescribed medications are appropriate for the person they are given to.
    Pharmacogenomic testing is a type of genetic testing to show how a person will respond to a medication. The tests look at specific genes to see whether, for example, the medication may work as expected, whether it will have no effect, or whether it will potentially result in bad side effects.

    What is the aim?
    We would like to find out if pharmacogenomic testing would be useful for people in care homes and find out how it would need to run in care homes to be successful.

    What will we do?
    We will talk to people who will be involved in these tests, to see what they think about the test and how it would need to run in care homes.
    We will develop a plan for how genetic testing could be run in care homes, based on the suggestions of the people that we have spoken to in this project. If we find that genetic testing could be helpful, we will plan a bigger study to test this.

    What difference will this make?
    This project will lead to a better understanding of how to implement pharmacogenomic testing in care homes.

  • REC name

    London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    26/LO/0040

  • Date of REC Opinion

    18 Feb 2026

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion