Abstract

IMPROVING PHARMACEUTICAL CARE AND HEALTH OUTCOMES IN OLDER ADULTS: AN EVIDENCE BASED REVIEW

Shinu C.* and Dilip C.

Abstract

Older people are rapidly increasing in number throughout the world, in both developed and developing countries and among this age group multiple chronic and degenerative disorders are highly prevalent. Lack of pharmaceutical care programme is a major public health problem in older adults resulting in negative health outcomes. The physiological alterations and lifestyle modifications in elderly lead to more health issues/ diseases. This leads to Polypharmacy (more than 5 drugs use) and non-compliance to their medications. The primary objective of this review was to provide an updated summary of evidence from different interventional studies to determine whether intervention aimed at improving pharmaceutical care also improve health outcome of older adults. The review aimed to measure the outcome of a harmonised, structured pharmaceutical care provided to elderly patients (> 60 years of age) by a clinical pharmacist. The use of multiple medications was associated with increased risks to patients, thus the pharmacist’s role has been directed at reducing the number of medications in order to reduce the potential for adverse effects and to minimise costs. Pharmaceutical care requires a comprehensive patient assessment which focuses not only on the drug product but the net benefit of patients are deriving from their medications. Pharmaceutical care plays a crucial role in reducing mortality and morbidities of the patients.

Keywords: Pharmaceutical care, intervention, health outcome.