Pharmacistcall to cutcare homemistakes

Medication errors in old people's homes could be avoided if pharmacists were put in charge, research suggested today.

A trial found a 91 per cent drop in mistakes over the course of four months when a pharmacist was given full responsibility for medicine management in a care home.

Elderly people living in homes are more vulnerable to medication errors than those in other settings, such as hospitals.

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A range of staff can look after medicines and oversee their distribution to patients in care homes, including doctors, nurses and care home staff.

Research carried out in a 69-bed care home found that improving communication and training between staff – including doctors, nurses, the head of the nursing home and pharmacists – helped cut down errors.

Pharmacy records were placed under continuous review and weekly visits were carried out at the care home.

The results showed putting a pharmacist in charge led to far fewer errors in areas such as medication type, dosage and records not being kept up-to-date.

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The total number of errors in these areas fell from 138 to 12.

The study comes after research last November showed people living in care homes are being put at risk because of sub-standard systems for handing out medicine.

University of London experts found seven in 10 residents were victims of drug errors, having carried out snapshot inspections of 55 homes.

They blamed inadequate information, over-worked staff, poor teamwork and often complex courses of medication.

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The latest study was presented by postgraduate researcher Majghan Saeed at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference in London.

Society spokeswoman Nina Barnett, a consultant pharmacist for older people, said: “As healthcare improves, older patients are on increasingly complex medication regimes requiring effective management.

“The trial shows that appointing a pharmacist to take responsibility for improving medicines management results in a very significant reduction in errors.”

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