Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106491

Kate L. Lapane, PhD, Department of Gerontology, Brown University, 171 Meeting Street, Box GB-222, Providence, RI 02912, (401) 863-9424, Kate_Lapane@Brown.edu

Presentation Abstract #1

Regulatory, Organizational, and Resident Influences on Medication (Mis)Use in US Nursing Facilities: Informing Innovative Strategies to Reduce Medication-Related Problems

Time: 15 minutes

Polypharmacy, inappropriate medication use, and medication underuse are common in nursing facilities. Understanding the impact of forces driving prescribing patterns in nursing facilities is essential to the development and design of interventions attempting to reduce medication-related problems. Influences on the medication use process are multi-factorial. A review of the multiplicity of issues related to medication-related problems including external (e.g., OBRA legislation, prospective payment systems), organizational (e.g., facility size, financial motivation), and resident factors will be presented. A summary of the literature focusing on potentially inappropriate medication use, as well as potential undertreatment of highly prevalent conditions in nursing facilities will be provided. These findings will be discussed as a backdrop for considering novel pharmacist-based approaches to reducing medication-related problems in nursing facilities.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to

• Understand the impact of forces driving prescribing patterns in nursing facilities;
• Identify internal and external factors that may lead to medication-related problems;
• Describe the literature on potentially inappropriate medication use in the elderly and undertreatment of highly prevalent conditions in nursing facilities.

Keywords: Drug Safety, Nursing Homes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.