Objective: To retrospectively assess the quality of prescriptions in elderly patients prior the distribution of guidelines for geriatric drug prescriptions.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted for one day in 2012 to investigate the quality of the prescriptions in 495 residents of 8 nursing homes. A 6 items-quality score was calculated, ranging from 0 (lowest quality) to 6 (highest quality).
Results: The median number of prescribed drugs was 8,5 per resident. Over a total of 4311 prescribed drugs, the average quality score was 4,96 ± 0,45; 4,54 ± 0,70 in computerized orders and 3,4 ± 1,02 in handwritten orders. Among 939 drugs considered as at high risk of inducing serious adverse reactions, monitoring was prescribed 154 times only (16,4%).
Conclusions: A lack of drug monitoring was highlighted, especially for high risk drugs. The quality of prescription may be improved by the use of computerized orders.
© 2014 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.