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Methods to reduce prescribing errors in elderly patients with multimorbidity

Overview of attention for article published in Clinical Interventions in Aging, June 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (94th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (98th percentile)

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2 news outlets
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39 X users
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2 Google+ users

Citations

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140 Dimensions

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574 Mendeley
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Title
Methods to reduce prescribing errors in elderly patients with multimorbidity
Published in
Clinical Interventions in Aging, June 2016
DOI 10.2147/cia.s80280
Pubmed ID
Authors

Amanda H Lavan, Paul F Gallagher, Denis O’Mahony

Abstract

The global population of multimorbid older people is growing steadily. Multimorbidity is the principal cause of complex polypharmacy, which in turn is the prime risk factor for inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug reactions and events. Those who prescribe for older frailer multimorbid people are particularly prone to committing prescribing errors of various kinds. The causes of prescribing errors in this patient population are multifaceted and complex, including prescribers' lack of knowledge of aging physiology, geriatric medicine, and geriatric pharmacotherapy, overprescribing that frequently leads to major polypharmacy, inappropriate prescribing, and inappropriate drug omission. This review examines the various ways of minimizing prescribing errors in multimorbid older people. The role of education in physician prescribers and clinical pharmacists, the use of implicit and explicit prescribing criteria designed to improve medication appropriateness in older people, and the application of information and communication-technology systems to minimize errors are discussed in detail. Although evidence to support any single intervention to prevent prescribing errors in multimorbid elderly people is inconclusive or lacking, published data support focused prescriber education in geriatric pharmacotherapy, routine application of STOPP/START (screening tool of older people's prescriptions/screening tool to alert to right treatment) criteria for potentially inappropriate prescribing, electronic prescribing, and close liaison between clinical pharmacists and physicians in relation to structured medication review and reconciliation. Carrying out a structured medication review aimed at optimizing pharmacotherapy in this vulnerable patient population presents a major challenge. Another challenge is to design, build, validate, and test by clinical trials suitably versatile and efficient software engines that can reliably and swiftly perform complex medication reviews in older multimorbid people. The European Union-funded SENATOR and OPERAM clinical trials commencing in 2016 will examine the impact of customized software engines in reducing medication-related morbidity, avoidable excess cost, and rehospitalization in older multimorbid people.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 39 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 574 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Spain 1 <1%
United States 1 <1%
Canada 1 <1%
Unknown 571 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 97 17%
Student > Bachelor 64 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 51 9%
Student > Doctoral Student 43 7%
Researcher 38 7%
Other 104 18%
Unknown 177 31%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 142 25%
Medicine and Dentistry 120 21%
Nursing and Health Professions 47 8%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 12 2%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 1%
Other 51 9%
Unknown 194 34%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 42. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 October 2023.
All research outputs
#987,632
of 25,576,275 outputs
Outputs from Clinical Interventions in Aging
#87
of 1,973 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#18,333
of 354,169 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Clinical Interventions in Aging
#2
of 59 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,576,275 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,973 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 354,169 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 59 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.