Table 1.
Geriatric patients information and indicators of rational drug use
| Indicators | Before JCI accreditation (April 1, 2012) | After JCI accreditation (April 1, 2013) |
|---|---|---|
| Number of patients receiving oral medications | 36 | 42 |
| Male | 27 | 36 |
| Female | 9 | 6 |
| Age (years) (mean ± SD) | 83.5 ± 5.8 | 82.5 ± 8.7 |
| Number of oral medications per patient (mean ± SD) | 12.6 ± 5.8 | 12.8 ± 6.1 |
| Number of patients receiving oral medications | ||
| ≥20 | 4 | 7 |
| 10–19 | 23 | 24 |
| <10 | 9 | 12 |
| Number of diagnoses (mean ± SD) | 10.5 ± 3.5 | 9.2 ± 4.1 |
| Number of patients with allergy history | 7 | 10 |
| Number of physician orders for oral medications | 486 | 601 |
| Percentage of use of generic names | 100% | 100% |
| Number of drug-related problems (DRPs) | 63 | 21 |
| Proportion of DRPs# | 13.0% | 3.5% |
| Detailed information for DRPs | ||
| Drug–drug interactions (DDIs) with potential adverse consequences# | 7 | 0 |
| _Therapeutic duplication or combination use of two drugs within the same therapeutic or structurally similar classΔ | 10 | 4 |
| Lack of therapeutic drug monitoring | 8 | 5 |
| Inappropriate dosing timeΔ | 12 | 5 |
| Inappropriate dosing frequencyΔ | 14 | 5 |
| Inappropriate dosing route# | 10 | 1 |
| Too large a dose | 2 | 1 |
| Beyond approved indications | 2 | 0 |
| Proportion of combination use of gastrointestinal protective medications for patients taking aspirin | 50.0% (4/8) | 77.8% (7/9) |
Notes:
#
P < 0.01,
Δ
P < 0.05 (first phase vs second phase). Differences between the two phases were tested for statistical significance using Pearson’s Chi-square test. A P-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. A P-value < 0.01 was considered to be highly significant. Proportion of DRPs was calculated as the value of number of DRPs divided by number of physician orders for oral medications.
Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.