Top 10 Signs and Symptoms of Psychotropic Adverse Drug Events to Monitor in Long-Term Care Residents.

OBJECTIVES: To produce a consensus list of the top 10 signs and symptoms suggestive of adverse drug events (ADEs) for monitoring in residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) who use antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, or antidepressants. DESIGN: A 3-round Delphi study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Geriatricians, psychiatrists, pharmacologists, general practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, and caregivers from 13 Asia Pacific, European, and North American countries. METHODS: Three survey rounds were completed between April and June 2023. In Round 1, participants indicated their level of agreement on a 9-point Likert scale on whether 41 signs or symptoms identified in a systematic review should be routinely monitored. Participants considered signs and symptoms that reduce quality of life or cause significant harm, are observable or measurable by nurses or care workers, and can be assessed at a single time point. Round 1 statements were included in a list for prioritization in Round 3 if ≥ 70% of participants responded ≥7 on the Likert scale. Statements were excluded if ≤ 30% of participants responded ≥7. In Round 2, participants indicated their level of agreement with statements that did not reach initial consensus, plus amended statements based on Round 1 participant feedback. Round 2 statements were included in Round 3 if ≥ 50% of the participants responded ≥7 on the Likert scale. In Round 3, participants prioritized the signs and symptoms. RESULTS: Forty-four participants (93.6%) completed all 3 rounds. Four of 41 signs and symptoms reached consensus for inclusion after Round 1, and 9 after Round 2. The top 10 signs and symptoms prioritized in Round 3 were recent falls, daytime drowsiness or sleepiness, abnormal movements (eg, shaking or stiffness), confusion or disorientation, balance problems, dizziness, postural hypotension, reduced self-care, restlessness, and dry mouth. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The top 10 signs and symptoms provide a basis for proactive monitoring for psychotropic ADEs.

Pharmacist-led medication review in a residential in-reach service leads to deprescribing.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of a pharmacist-led medication review on deprescribing medications in a Residential In-Reach (RIR) service which provides acute care substitution to residential aged care residents. METHODS: A pre-post observational study was conducted. Patient characteristics and admission and discharge medications were collected over two 3-month phases before (prephase) and after (postphase) the introduction of a pharmacist who performed a comprehensive medication review and provided deprescribing recommendations. The Screening Tool of Older Persons' Prescriptions (STOPP) version 2 was used to identify potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). The Drug Burden Index (DBI) was used to measure cumulative anticholinergic and sedative medication burden. Outcome of deprescribing was measured by the reduction in the number of PIMs, DBI scores and proportion of polypharmacy from admission to discharge. RESULTS: The prephase included 59 patients (mean age 87.3 years, 63% female), and the postphase included 88 patients (mean age 87.3 years, 63% female). There was a significant reduction in the mean number of PIMs (pre +0.05 ± 2.59 vs. post -0.78 ± 2.32, p = 0.04) and median DBI (pre -0.004 ± 0.17 vs. post -0.07 ± 0.2, p = 0.03) in postphase compared to prephase. The proportion of polypharmacy at discharge was reduced in the postphase (pre-100% vs. post-90%, p = 0.01). The most deprescribed PIMs as measured by STOPP in postphase were drugs without indication, cardiovascular system drugs and gastrointestinal system drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of a pharmacist-led medication review in RIR service was associated with a significant reduction in the mean number of PIMs, median DBI and polypharmacy. Future studies are needed to determine whether deprescription is sustained to examine correlations to long-term patient outcomes.

Systematic Review of Psychotropic Adverse Drug Event Monitoring Tools for Use in Long-Term Care Facilities.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate properties of psychotropic adverse drug event (ADE) monitoring tools intended for use in long-term care facilities. DESIGN: Systematic review. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 years and older in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. METHODS: Medline, CINAHL, Embase, and PsycInfo were searched from inception to August 2022 for studies reporting the development, validation, or application of tools to monitor psychotropic ADEs. Screening, data extraction, and quality assessment were performed independently by 2 authors. Each tool was assessed under the domains of test-retest reliability, interrater reliability, content validity, and construct validity. RESULTS: Eight studies that described 6 tools were included. Tools were developed in Wales (n = 2), United States (n = 1), Ireland (n = 1), Canada (n = 1), and Singapore (n = 1). Tools monitored 4 to 95 items related to antipsychotics (n = 6 tools), antidepressants (n = 4), benzodiazepines or hypnotics (n = 4), antiepileptics (n = 4), and dementia medications (n = 1). Tools commonly monitored sedation, tiredness, or sleepiness (n = 6), falls (n = 4), and tremor or extrapyramidal symptoms (n = 4). Tools were designed for application by nurses (n = 4), during family conferences (n = 1), and by general medical practitioners before repeat prescribing (n = 1). Two tools were reported to require 10 to 60 minutes to administer. Four tools were determined to have adequate content validity and 2 tools adequate interrater reliability. No tools reported test-retest reliability or construct validity. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Six published psychotropic ADE monitoring tools are heterogeneous in design and intended application. Existing tools are predominately designed for application by nurses with or without direct involvement of the wider multidisciplinary team. Further research is needed into models of care that facilitate psychotropic ADE monitoring in the long-term care facility setting, and the extent to which application of specific tools is associated with reduced medication-related harm.

Strategies to simplify complex medication regimens.

BACKGROUND: Older people use increasingly complex medication regimens. Complex regimens are challenging to administer, particularly for those with cognitive impairment, frailty, poor eyesight or limited dexterity. Complex regimens have been linked to non-adherence, medication errors and hospital admissions. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to describe strategies to reduce the complexity of medication regimens in community and residential aged care settings. DISCUSSION: Medication regimen simplification is the process of reducing medication burden through strategies such as consolidating dosing times, standardising routes of administration, using long-acting rather than shorter-acting formulations, and switching to combination products in place of single-ingredient products. Obtaining a best possible medication history, ensuring appropriateness of current therapy, and deprescribing are important steps prior to implementing regimen simplification. Implementing such strategies should be based on a discussion and consideration of patient preferences, and include clinical judgement to limit the risk of unintended consequences for patients or carers.

Evaluation of a new educational workplace-based program for provisionally registered pharmacists in Australia.

OBJECTIVE: The Intern Foundation Program (IFP) is an innovative new program for intern pharmacists (provisionally registered pharmacists) that integrates academic theory with structured workplace learning and regular feedback, incorporates research training, and streamlines training of clinical educators (CEs). The aim of this research was to evaluate aspects of the IFP from the perspectives of both CEs and interns, gauging opinion about the impact on workload, structured workplace learning, addition of research training, CE-student relationships, CE standardized training, and intern transition to practice. METHODS: Two focus groups were conducted to explore CE (N = 6) and pharmacy intern (N = 7) perspectives of the IFP. A topic guide was constructed to address the research aims. Thematic analysis was undertaken by two team members independently then in discussion. RESULTS: Both the CE and intern groups reported that the IFP enabled more structured supervision and fostered a better intern-CE relationship with beneficial support from the university. IFP standardized rubrics and checklists used as part of workplace learning assisted with more consistent feedback for interns and training approaches for CEs alongside CE training. Participants also reported that undertaking a research project provided them with enhanced learning and new skill development. CONCLUSIONS: Participants in the pilot agreed that the IFP is a valuable program, deemed complementary to the intern training program that assists intern transition to independent practice through implementation of a unique curriculum based largely on workplace learning, research training, fostering better CE-intern relationships, robust CE training, and close university-workplace support.

T cells to a dominant epitope of GAD65 express a public CDR3 motif.

Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice spontaneously develop autoimmune diabetes, and serve as a model for type 1 diabetes (T1D) and natural autoimmunity. T cell responses to the pancreatic islet antigen glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) can be detected in the spleens of young prediabetic NOD mice, which display a unique MHC class II molecule. Here, we report that a distinct TcR beta chain and CDR3 motif are utilized by all NOD mice in response to a dominant determinant on GAD65, establishing a public repertoire in the spontaneous autoimmunity to an important islet cell antigen. GAD65 530-543 (p530)-reactive T cells preferentially utilize the Vbeta4, Dbeta2.1 and Jbeta2.7 gene segments, with a CDR3 that is characterized by a triad of amino acids, DWG, preceded by a polar residue. In addition, we used CDR3 length spectratyping, CDR3-specific reverse transcriptase-PCR and direct TcR sequencing to show that the TcR beta chain structural patterns associated with p530-specific T cells consistently appeared in the islets of young NOD mice with insulitis, but not in the inflamed islets of streptozotocin-treated C57BL/6 mice, or in inflamed NOD salivary glands. To our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate that a public T cell repertoire is used in spontaneous autoimmunity to a dominant self-determinant. These findings suggest that defined clonotypes and repertoires may be preferentially selected in haplotypes predisposed to spontaneous autoimmunity.