INCLUSION of a pharmacist in the multidisciplinary health care team could detect more cases of potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP), according to a study published in the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy.
Researchers in Spain compared the total number of PIP incidents as determined by STOPP-START criteria with PIP incidents detected by a pharmacist's clinical opinion, in 338 hospitalised or institutionalised patients aged over 65 years.
The pharmacist's judgement, based on a comprehensive review of the complete chronic treatment of patients, detected 35% more PIP incidents than the STOPP-START criteria, which mainly detected incidents related to drug duplication and insufficiently treated diagnosis or symptoms.
More details at ejhp.bmj.com.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 05 Jan 17
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 05 Jan 17
