An Evaluation of an Adapted US Model of Pharmaceutical Care to Improve Psychoactive Prescribing for Nursing Home Residents in Northern Ireland (Fleetwood Northern Ireland Study)

OBJECTIVES To test the effect of an adapted U.S. model of pharmaceutical care on prescribing of inappropriate psychoactive (anxiolytic, hypnotic, and antipsychotic) medications and falls in nursing homes for older people in Northern Ireland (NI). DESIGN Cluster randomized controlled trial. SETTING Nursing homes randomized to intervention (receipt of the adapted model of care; n=11) or control (usual care continued; n=11). PARTICIPANTS Residents aged 65 and older who provided informed consent (N=334; 173 intervention, 161 control). INTERVENTION Specially trained pharmacists visited intervention homes monthly for 12 months and reviewed residents' clinical and prescribing information, applied an algorithm that guided them in assessing the appropriateness of psychoactive medication, and worked with prescribers (general practitioners) to improve the prescribing of these drugs. The control homes received usual care. MEASUREMENTS The primary end point was the proportion of residents prescribed one or more inappropriate psychoactive medicine according to standardized protocols; falls were evaluated using routinely collected falls data mandated by the regulatory body for nursing homes in NI. RESULTS The proportion of residents taking inappropriate psychoactive medications at 12 months in the intervention homes (25/128, 19.5%) was much lower than in the control homes (62/124, 50.0%) (odds ratio=0.26, 95% confidence interval=0.14-0.49) after adjustment for clustering within homes. No differences were observed at 12 months in the falls rate between the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSION Marked reductions in inappropriate psychoactive medication prescribing in residents resulted from pharmacist review of targeted medications, but there was no effect on falls.