Deprescribing in older adults: a new concept for nurses in administering medicines and as prescribers of medicine

Policies Shaping Nursing Home Medication Practices: Involving Nurses to Advance Individualized Deprescribing

Deprescribing is a common practice in the care of older adults, including those living in nursing homes (NHs). Deprescribing represents an individualized approach to optimizing medication use; it considers the risks, benefits, and goals of an individual, and can mitigate the effects of polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medications. In NH settings, prescribing practices are shaped directly and indirectly by historical and contemporaneous policies at federal, state, and local levels, which have primarily targeted chemical restraints and unnecessary medications. Understanding these policies, their impact, and potentially unintended consequences is essential for gerontological nursing to transition toward individualized practices and approaches to deprescribing. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 49(9), 15-20.].

A Proposed Curricular Framework for an Interprofessional Approach to Deprescribing

Deprescribing involves reducing or stopping medications that are causing more harm than good or are no longer needed. It is an important approach to managing polypharmacy, yet healthcare professionals identify many barriers. We present a proposed pre-licensure competency framework that describes essential knowledge, teaching strategies, and assessment protocols to promote interprofessional deprescribing skills. The framework considers how to involve patients and care partners in deprescribing decisions. An action plan and example curriculum mapping exercise are included to help educators assess their curricula, and select and implement these concepts and strategies within their programs to ensure learners graduate with competencies to manage increasingly complex medication regimens as people age.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01704-9.

Supporting Interprofessional Collaboration in Deprescribing: Needs Assessment for an Education Program

INTRODUCTION

: Deprescribing is a complex process involving patients and healthcare providers. The aim of the project was to examine the learning needs and preferences of healthcare providers and students to inform the development of an interprofessional deprescribing education program.

METHODS

: An online survey of pharmacists, nurses, nurse practitioners, family physicians, and associated students practicing or studying in Nova Scotia was conducted. Respondents were recruited by purposive and snowball sampling to have at least five respondents within each professional/student group. Questions captured participant's self-reported comfort level and professional role for 12 deprescribing tasks and their learning preferences.

RESULTS

: Sixty-nine respondents (46 healthcare providers and 23 students) completed the questionnaire. Average comfort levels for all 12 deprescribing tasks ranged from 40.22 to 78.90 of 100. Respondents reported their preferred deprescribing learning activities as watching videos and working through case studies. Healthcare providers preferred to learn asynchronously online, while students preferred a mix of online and in-person delivery.

DISCUSSION

: Learning needs related to deprescribing tasks and roles were identified, as well as preferences for format and delivery of education. Development of an education program that can provide a shared understanding of collaborative deprescribing tailored to learner preferences may improve deprescribing in practice.

Deprescribing medicines in older people living with multimorbidity and polypharmacy: the TAILOR evidence synthesis

BACKGROUND

Tackling problematic polypharmacy requires tailoring the use of medicines to individual needs and circumstances. This may involve stopping medicines (deprescribing) but patients and clinicians report uncertainty on how best to do this. The TAILOR medication synthesis sought to help understand how best to support deprescribing in older people living with multimorbidity and polypharmacy.

OBJECTIVES

We identified two research questions: (1) what evidence exists to support the safe, effective and acceptable stopping of medication in this patient group, and (2) how, for whom and in what contexts can safe and effective tailoring of clinical decisions related to medication use work to produce desired outcomes? We thus described three objectives: (1) to undertake a robust scoping review of the literature on stopping medicines in this group to describe what is being done, where and for what effect; (2) to undertake a realist synthesis review to construct a programme theory that describes 'best practice' and helps explain the heterogeneity of deprescribing approaches; and (3) to translate findings into resources to support tailored prescribing in clinical practice.

DATA SOURCES

Experienced information specialists conducted comprehensive searches in MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), Joanna Briggs Institute Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, Google (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) and Google Scholar (targeted searches).

REVIEW METHODS

The scoping review followed the five steps described by the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for conducting a scoping review. The realist review followed the methodological and publication standards for realist reviews described by the Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards (RAMESES) group. Patient and public involvement partners ensured that our analysis retained a patient-centred focus.

RESULTS

Our scoping review identified 9528 abstracts: 8847 were removed at screening and 662 were removed at full-text review. This left 20 studies (published between 2009 and 2020) that examined the effectiveness, safety and acceptability of deprescribing in adults (aged ≥ 50 years) with polypharmacy (five or more prescribed medications) and multimorbidity (two or more conditions). Our analysis revealed that deprescribing under research conditions mapped well to expert guidance on the steps needed for good clinical practice. Our findings offer evidence-informed support to clinicians regarding the safety, clinician acceptability and potential effectiveness of clinical decision-making that demonstrates a structured approach to deprescribing decisions. Our realist review identified 2602 studies with 119 included in the final analysis. The analysis outlined 34 context-mechanism-outcome configurations describing the knowledge work of tailored prescribing under eight headings related to organisational, health-care professional and patient factors, and interventions to improve deprescribing. We conclude that robust tailored deprescribing requires attention to providing an enabling infrastructure, access to data, tailored explanations and trust.

LIMITATIONS

Strict application of our definition of multimorbidity during the scoping review may have had an impact on the relevance of the review to clinical practice. The realist review was limited by the data (evidence) available.

CONCLUSIONS

Our combined reviews recognise deprescribing as a complex intervention and provide support for the safety of structured approaches to deprescribing, but also highlight the need to integrate patient-centred and contextual factors into best practice models.

FUTURE WORK

The TAILOR study has informed new funded research tackling deprescribing in sleep management, and professional education. Further research is being developed to implement tailored prescribing into routine primary care practice.

STUDY REGISTRATION

This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42018107544 and PROSPERO CRD42018104176.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 26, No. 32. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Increased Accessibility to Primary Healthcare Due to Nurse Prescribing of Medicines

Since January 2016, nurses and midwives in Poland have had the right, with some restrictions, to prescribe medicines. Consequently, Polish patients received the same opportunity as in other countries worldwide: easier access to certain health services, i.e., medical prescribing. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of structural changes which increased the nurses' competences on the accessibility to prescription visits for patients receiving primary healthcare on the example of Medical and Diagnostic Centre (MDC), and to discuss the general trend of legal changes in nursing profession regulations. We performed a detailed analysis of the data on the MDC patient population in Siedlce who received at least one prescription written by a general practitioner and/or a nurse/midwife in the years 2017-2019.The largest number of prescription visits made by nurses concerned patients aged 50-70 years, as this age range includes the largest number of patients with chronic diseases who need continued pharmacological treatment originally administered by doctors. An increasing tendency for prescription visits made by nurses was recorded, with a simultaneous downward trend in the same type of visits undertaken by doctors at MDC. Nurses' involvement in prescribing medications as a continued pharmacotherapy during holiday seasons results in patients having continuous access to medication. An upward trend was also observed in the number of medications prescribed by nurses per patient. Structural changes in the legal regulations of the nursing profession improve patients' access to prescription visits under primary healthcare. Further research is recommended to evaluate the dynamics of these trends and the impact of newly introduced nursing competences on the accessibility of prescription visits for patients.

Deprescribing perceptions and practice: Reported by multidisciplinary hospital clinicians after, and by medical students before and after, viewing an e-learning module

BACKGROUND

There are many barriers to deprescribing in the routine care of older inpatients with polypharmacy. Implementation is limited by factors related to clinicians, patients, and the acute care setting. A short (11 min) e-learning module for multidisciplinary hospital clinicians was developed to address two commonly reported barriers: awareness of polypharmacy and self-efficacy in deprescribing.

OBJECTIVES

1) Describe the level of awareness of polypharmacy and self-efficacy of deprescribing in multi-disciplinary hospital clinicians following completion of an online e-learning module; and 2) describe the immediate impact of an online educational module in awareness and self-efficacy of polypharmacy and deprescribing in senior medical students.

METHODS

A questionnaire was developed and administered to hospital clinicians following completion of the e-learning module. Senior medical students undertook the questionnaire pre- and post-module.

RESULTS

Overall, 99 hospital clinicians with diverse clinical roles, experience, and ages, and 30 medical students completed the questionnaire. Although most (≥80%) hospital clinicians reported a general awareness of polypharmacy and deprescribing, there was moderate to low current activity in medication review and deprescribing, a perceived lack of role in medication review by junior doctors, and minimal knowledge of deprescribing tools. Use of a previously validated self-efficacy questionnaire showed lowest self-efficacy in domains related to developing deprescribing plans and implementing them. Pre-post analysis of medical student responses found a small statistically significant improvement following viewing the module in awareness of polypharmacy, deprescribing and deprescribing tools, perception of their role in deprescribing, and self-efficacy in planning and implementation of deprescribing decisions.

CONCLUSIONS

Hospital clinicians and senior medical students had limited self-efficacy in deprescribing and hospital clinicians reported they did not deprescribe frequently. Targets for educational and behavioral interventions were identified. A short e-learning module on polypharmacy and deprescribing may be a useful component of a multi-strategic intervention to implement deprescribing into routine inpatient care.

Reducing inappropriate prescribing for older adults with advanced frailty: A review based on a survey of practice in four countries

The management of medications in persons with frailty presents challenges. There is evidence of inappropriate prescribing and a lack of consensus among healthcare professionals on the judicious use of medications, particularly for patients with more severe frailty. This study reviews the evidence on the use of commonly prescribed pharmacological treatments in advanced frailty based on a questionnaire of prescribing practices and attitudes of healthcare professionals at different stages in their careers, in different countries. A convenience sample of those attending hospital grand rounds in Ireland, Canada and Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) were surveyed on the management of 18 medications in advanced frailty using a clinical vignette (man with severe dementia, Clinical Frailty Scale 7/9). Choices were to continue or discontinue (stop now or later) medications. In total, 298 respondents from Ireland (n = 124), Canada (n = 110), and ANZ (n = 64) completed the questionnaire, response rate 97%, including 81 consultants, 40 non-consultant hospital doctors, 134 general practitioners and 43 others (nurses, pharmacists, and medical students). Most felt that statins (88%), bisphosphonates (77%) and cholinesterase inhibitors (76%) should be discontinued. Thyroid replacement (88%), laxatives (83%) and paracetamol (81%) were most often continued. Respondents with experience in geriatric, palliative and dementia care were significantly more likely to discontinue medications. Age, gender and experience working in nursing homes did not contribute to the decision. Reflecting the current literature, there was no clear consensus on inappropriate prescribing, although respondents preferentially discontinued medications for secondary prevention. Experience significantly predicted the number and type discontinued, suggesting that education is important in reducing inappropriate prescribing for people in advanced states of frailty.

Deprescription in Advanced Cancer Patients

The use of multiple drugs is often referred to as polypharmacy, although this term has not been precisely defined. Frequently, drugs are used unwisely in multiple combinations increasing the risk of adverse reactions, or for the long-term prevention of diseases in patients with a short life expectancy who, therefore, will not benefit from them. The reflection on this has led to the introduction of the concept of deprescription. There are many reasons for the inappropriate drug prescription and barriers to reduce medications. Tools were developed to help prescribers to limit the number of prescribed drugs that patients are taking. Several studies have shown that deprescription of some drugs is possible and safe and can even have a positive influence on wellbeing, cognitive function, falls, and admission to a hospital. Deprescription should be individualized and carried out, as far as possible, in agreement with patients and their families. A six-step method for deprescription is proposed.