gms | German Medical Science

Background: Polypharmacy leads to a higher risk for adverse drug reactions in elderly patients. 7.9 ADR occur per 100 nursing home resident months in Germany. 60% of these ADR are preventable and 30% necessitate further medical treatments. 40% of ADR are caused by drug-drug interactions. This project aims to investigate whether structured means of communication among health professionals can improve patient-relevant outcomes.

Materials and Methods: The working group created two different fax templates to standardize communication between nurses and doctors, and pharmacists and doctors respectively. (It is assumed that communication between nurses and pharmacists is sufficiently efficient). Nursing home patients who are treated with 7 or more drugs after being discharged from hospital will be admitted to the project. The fax forms will be used to succinctly report changes to the patient’s health status (nurses) and drug-drug interactions and other relevant information concerning medication (pharmacists) to the physician responsible for treatment. The templates are supposed to be implemented by December 1st, 2016.

Furthermore, interprofessional quality circles will be set up as soon as the fax templates have been established in everyday practice. The aim of these quality circles is to generate trust between health professionals and to be a platform for professional development.

Results: The success of the project will be measured by participation of health professionals and patient-relevant outcomes. Faxes will be counted to evaluate the extent of communication between health professionals participating in the project. Changes to medication suggested by pharmacists will be compared to actually implemented changes to medication. Additionally, the amount of active substances in the patients’ medication will be observed to determine whether interventions lead to a reduction in the quantity of active substances.