The Effects of Home Pharmaceutical Counseling on Prescription of Potentially Inappropriate Medications

Abstract

Aging increases the danger of adverse reactions to medication, which can lead to hospitalization and mortality. Aging is also associated with increased rates of polypharmacy, which can lead to harmful interactive effects. The introduction of personalized pharmaceutical counseling for elderly patients when medications are prescribed can potentially reduce the danger of adverse reactions to medications, and thus promote public health. This paper reports on an exploratory project in elderly pharmaceutical counseling conducted in Taiwan from 2010 to 2012. An experiment group consisting of 40 patients received home pharmaceutical counseling from hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists, while a control group received only routine counseling at the time their medications were dispensed. The two groups' prescriptions were analyzed according to Beer's Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Use of Medication. It was found that the rate of prescription of potentially inappropriate medications was reduced after home pharmaceutical counseling, when considered in terms of gender, rate of polypharmacy and age group. However, while home counseling appeared to reduce the incidence of prescription of potentially inappropriate medications at hospitals, this was not the case for community clinics. The paper discusses implications of these findings for future research and pharmaceutical practice.