Poor drug use in aged care ‘ups hospital admissions’
Australian study links admissions to both bad drug choices and lack of preventive medication
Suboptimal use of medicines likely underpins almost half of hospital admissions among people living in aged care homes, an Australian study suggests.
Analysis of nearly 19,000 hospitalisations among aged care residents has flagged potentially poor care, including failure to swap out drugs linked to falls and lack of cardioprotective agents in those with a history of disease.
Researchers from the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre at the University of SA, led by Dr Lisa Kalisch Ellett, analysed claims data from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
They identified 18,874 hospital admissions for claimants in aged care (median age 88 and 71% female) between July 2014 and June 2019.
