Purpose: To identify the prevalence of potentially inappropriate drug prescription in a\nsample of nursing home residents in France, combining explicit criteria and implicit approach and\nto involve pharmacists in the multi-professional process of therapeutic optimization. Methods:\nA cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study was conducted during a five-month period in a\nsample of French nursing homes. Information on drug prescription, diseases, and socio-demographic\ncharacteristics of nursing home residents was collected. For each prescription, identification of\npotentially inappropriate drug prescription was done, based on explicit and implicit criteria. Results:\nNursing home residents were administered an average of 8.1 (SD 3.2, range 0â??20) drugs per day.\nNearly 87% (n = 237) of the residents had polypharmacy with five or more drugs prescribed per day.\nAmong the 274 nursing home residents recruited from five nursing homes, 212 (77.4%) had at least\none potentially inappropriate drug prescription. According to the Laroche list, 84 residents (30.7%)\nhad at least one drug with an unfavorable benefitâ??harm balance. An overdosing was found for 20.1%\n(n = 55) of the residents. Nearly 30% (n = 82) of the residents had a drug prescribed without valid\nmedical indication. Conclusions: This study shows that potentially inappropriate drug prescriptions\nare highly prevalent among nursing home residents, nevertheless pharmacists can take part in drug\nutilization review in collaboration with the nursing home staff.
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