PHARMACISTS with specific geriatric medicine expertise need to be integrated into multidisciplinary teams caring for older Australians, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) believes.
In a new Standard of practice in geriatric medicine for pharmacy services, developed with the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicines, the SHPA highlighted the role pharmacists can play in avoiding and reducing inappropriate polypharmacy, and preventing adverse drug reactions in elderly patients.
Former SHPA Geriatric Medicine Leadership Committee Chair and lead author of the Standard, Dr Rohan Elliott, said randomised controlled trials showed the integrating clinical pharmacy services into aged care settings improved medication management and safety.
"Comprehensive, patient-centred medication reviews and assessment of patients' medication management are essential roles for geriatric medicine pharmacists," he said.
"In this area, deprescribing has become a major focus.
"Along with medication regimen simplification, deprescribing can improve medicines adherence and reduce treatment burden for older people and their carers, ultimately improving comfort and quality of life among this vulnerable cohort."
Following recommendations from the Aged Care Royal Commission's interim report recommendations to curb the use of antipsychotic medication in the aged care setting, SHPA CEO, Kristin Michaels, said pharmacists were uniquely positionsed to determine if prescribing such medications would be appropriate.
The Standard of practice in geriatric medicine for pharmacy services was published in the Feb issue of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research.
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