INTRODUCTION

The number of older adults (aged 65 years and older) is expected to exceed 1.5 billion by 2050.¹ Multimorbidity is expected to affect 65% of older adults aged 65 to 84 years and up to 82% of those aged 85 years or older.¹ With multimorbidity, the number of medications taken by the vulnerable older adult population increases. Along with drug-disease and drug-drug interactions, age-related physiological changes that alter pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics increase the risk of adverse drug events (ADEs).²

 

Throughout this continuing education activity, consider a hypothetical patient, Ms. Polly, who is an 85-year-old female. Enrolled in a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), she has been able to live safely at home. Table 1 lists her current medication regimen.

 

Table 1. Medication Regimen

Acetaminophen/diphenhydramine PM 25/500 mg, 2 tablets nightly PRN for insomnia Alendronate 70 mg weekly for osteoporosis Amlodipine 10 mg daily for hypertension Aspirin 81 mg daily for heart attack prevention Cetirizine 10 mg daily for allergies Donepezil 10 mg daily for Alzheimer’s disease Fluticasone nasal spray 2 sprays in each nostril daily for allergies Furosemide 20 mg daily for peripheral edema Gabapentin 300 mg twice daily for neuropathic pain Glipizide ER 5 mg daily for pre-diabetes Ibuprofen 200 mg three times daily for pain Omega-3 Fish Oil 1000 mg twice daily for hyperlipidemia Oxybutynin 5 mg twice daily for overactive bladder Pantoprazole 40 mg daily for GERD Paroxetine 30 mg daily for depression Potassium chloride 10 mEq daily for potassium deficiency Pravastatin 40 mg daily for hyperlipidemia Propranolol 40 mg twice daily for hypertension Senna-docusate 8.6-50 mg, 2 tablets daily for constipation

ABBREVIATIONS: GERD = gastroesophageal reflux disease; mEq = milliequivalent; mg = milligrams; PRN = as needed

 

Ms. Polly’s healthcare needs have become more complex with her increasing confusion, declining ability to perform activities of daily living, and a recent fall. Her daughter continues to be her main caregiver and has requested more help from PACE; thus, the prescriber has reached out to the clinical pharmacist for assistance. This CE activity will review best practices for deprescribing with a focus on why, who, when, what, and how to safely deprescribe medications in the vulnerable older adult population.

 

WHY, WHO, AND WHEN TO DEPRESCRIBE

 

WHY: Older Adults Have Specific Needs

Since older adults have differing health and functional statuses, prescribers must individualize medication selection for these patients. Prescribing the right medication and dose for the right indication at the right time while providing benefit and avoiding ADEs is challenging. Comorbidities and complexity of medication regimens may result in suboptimal medication use. Suboptimal medication use comprises (1) underprescribing, (2) polypharmacy or overuse, and (3) high-risk prescribing, such as potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), prescribing cascades, and anticholinergic and sedative effects.²

 

Estimates suggest that as many as 65% of older adults in the United States are exposed to polypharmacy and 29% to PIMs.^3,4 Polypharmacy is generally defined as the use of five or more medications and often occurs because of a prescribing cascade, which means the culprit medication causes an ADE that is mistaken for a new medical condition for which a subsequent medication is initiated as treatment. “Hyperpolypharmacy” or “excessive polypharmacy” is generally considered the use of 10 or more medications.⁵ Polypharmacy is associated with undesirable outcomes: frailty, cognitive decline, functional decline, falls, fractures, emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and mortality.^3,5,6

 

Evidence suggests that older age and indicators of poor health (i.e., multiple chronic conditions, cognitive decline, frailty) are risk factors for polypharmacy. The number of medications in a patient’s regimen may be the single most important predictor of ADEs.⁶ The likelihood of taking inappropriate medication increases with the number of drugs prescribed. Experts consider medications inappropriate in older adults when they pose individual or cumulative adverse event risk.

 

The Choosing Wisely Campaign brought awareness and encouraged conversations between healthcare providers and patients about medication overuse and potentially doing more harm than good within healthcare. This partnership between the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation and specialty societies was formed in 2012. At the time, the healthcare field and society generally thought that more care was better, and patients tended to perceive prescribers as ignoring their patients’ interests if they did not prescribe certain medications.⁷

 

Understanding suboptimal prescribing allows healthcare providers to mitigate the risk of poor health outcomes in vulnerable older adults. Deprescribing is the process of healthcare professional-supervised medication withdrawal with the goal of managing polypharmacy and improving outcomes.⁸ Pharmacists review medication regimens comprehensively to identify and consider discontinuation of high-risk medications and those that cause more harm than benefit. Deprescribing encourages a proactive and systematic approach to mitigate potential medication-related problems (MRPs). This approach is preferable over a reactive approach (i.e., discontinuing an offending medication after an ADE occurs).

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: Why should healthcare providers re-evaluate medications periodically?

 

According to the World Health Organization, the global ADE-related mortality rate increased approximately 3.3-fold from 2001 to 2019, with the highest rates occurring in those aged 75 years and older.⁹ A systematic review of 14 hospital-based observational studies in older adults found an ADE to occur more often with an increased number of medications.¹⁰ More than 50% of ADEs could be prevented with safe prescribing practices.⁵ Safe medication use requires that healthcare providers ensure regimen appropriateness, considering treatment initiation, treatment optimization, and cessation of unnecessary or inappropriate medications.

 

WHO: The Age-Friendly Movement

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement in partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation, American Hospital Association, and the Catholic Health Association developed the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative to improve the care of older adults and the lives of caregivers. This framework—the Age-Friendly 4Ms, depicted in Figure 1—is a patient-centered approach to medication optimization that addresses polypharmacy and deprescribing. Conversations with healthcare providers can be re-framed to discuss “What Matters” to the patients and caregivers. Medications impact all the “M” domains: What Matters, Mentation and Mobility.^11,12

 

Figure 1. Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms Framework¹¹

 

Reasons for deprescribing may vary from patient to patient. When reviewing common goals for deprescribing, consider the perspectives of the patient, the caregiver, and the healthcare team. Identify which reasons for deprescribing may be most relevant or meaningful to each party involved in the patient’s care. Examples include

• reducing medication regimen complexity and pill burden to improve adherence
• reducing anticholinergic burden to improve and/or preserve cognitive function
• reducing fall and fracture risk
• reducing hospitalizations
• reducing mortality
• reducing costs

 

These deprescribing goals improve patients’ quality of life. Deprescribing considers not only single medications but also the aggregate interaction risk from multiple medications.¹³

 

Deprescribing often presents challenges due to barriers faced by healthcare providers and patients. Healthcare providers’ may have limited time and lack of training which serves as the most significant barriers. Patient-related barriers to deprescribing include satisfaction with medications, reluctance, resistance to change, and opposition to alternative treatments. Despite these challenges, many barriers can be addressed through education, communication, and shared decision-making.

 

Although many patients express not wanting to take medications, their beliefs and acceptance of polypharmacy and discontinuing medications is poorly understood. To further understand patients’ views, preferences and willingness, researchers from the University of South Australia and University of Sydney developed the Patients’ Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (PATD) questionnaires, including the revised PATD for older adults and caregivers and the revised PATD for cognitively impaired individuals (rPATDcog).^14-16

 

A population-based survey of Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older using PATD questions found most older adults are open to having one or more medications deprescribed and two-thirds want to reduce the number of medications taken.¹⁷ A multi-center cross-sectional survey found older adults and caregivers are open to deprescribing, with more than 90% willing to discontinue a medication if a healthcare provider initiates the conversation.¹⁸

 

While primarily used for research, providers may use the revised PATD questionnaire clinically to target patients and caregivers who are willing to discontinue medications. The original work is available here: https://www.australiandeprescribingnetwork.com.au/925-2/.¹⁶ Understanding attitudes and willingness may enhance shared decision-making conversations about deprescribing.

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: How do you determine which medications to deprescribe?

 

WHEN TO DEPRESCRIBE

Older adults are often high-risk for potential MRPs due to pharmacokinetic (the body’s effect on a medication) and pharmacodynamic (a medication’s effect on the body) changes. However, advanced age is not an independent risk factor for MRPs. Elements of high-risk patients who may benefit from deprescribing include the following¹⁹:

• Polypharmacy: Use of multiple medications is the strongest risk factor for MRPs. Table 2 lists common types of potential MRPs.
• Multimorbidity: Having multiple chronic conditions increases the risk of drug-disease interactions.
• Renal impairment: Reduced renal function increases ADE risk.
• Transitions of care: Medication management by multiple prescribers can result in miscommunication and medication discrepancies, such as inadvertent continuation.
• Nonadherence: Patients may be nonadherent to their medication regimens due to experiencing real or perceived adverse effects and/or lack of benefit, complexity, burden, and cost.
• Limited life expectancy/end of life care: Goals of care change from slowing disease progression and prolonging life to improving quality of life. Patients may no longer benefit from preventive medications and use certain medications for symptomatic management.
• Frailty and dementia: Frailty—an age-related syndrome of physiologic decline—is associated with increased adverse events and risk of harm, such as falls, which can be detrimental. ADEs may worsen or exacerbate these syndromes (i.e., fatigue or cognitive impairment).

 

Table 2. Types of Potential Medication-Related Problems

Adverse Drug Events Adverse Drug Interactions Excessive Duration Inappropriate/Unnecessary Medications Ineffective Therapy No Indication Nonadherence Suboptimal Dosing Supratherapeutic Dosing

 

 

Aging is not an identical experience for every person, so frailty—declining mental and physical resilience, or the ability to bounce back and recover from events like illness and injury—is a more appropriate measure of health status than age alone. Frailty has been associated with poor patient outcomes. The Edmonton Frail Scale is a validated, reliable, and multidimensional screening tool for all healthcare settings. The free tool with a training course is available here: https://edmontonfrailscale.org/. It assesses nine domains: cognition, general health status, functional independence, social support, medication use, nutrition, mood, continence, and functional performance. The highest level of frailty is a score of 17.²⁰ Assessing frailty severity can help with shared decision-making and determining goals of care.

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: How can you use prescribing clinical tools for deprescribing?

 

WHAT TO DEPRESCRIBE

While few studies have measured the clinical implications of underprescribing, evidence has shown an association between polypharmacy and PIMs. A systematic review of 38 clinical trials found that deprescribing interventions in community-dwelling older adults (aged 65 years and older) may provide small reductions in use of PIMs and mortality.⁶ Prescribers and pharmacists should periodically reevaluate any medication initially prescribed for a clinical indication since benefits, risks, conditions, and comorbidities change over time, which may result in inappropriate use. Medication review should consider the following factors: goals of care, remaining life expectancy, treatment targets, time until benefit, number needed to treat (NNT, a statistical measure that indicates how many patients need to be treated with a specific intervention to prevent one additional adverse outcome), number needed to harm, and ADEs.²¹

 

Collaborative approaches and numerous clinical application tools highlighted below are available for safe prescribing and to reduce medication overuse. Focusing on medications and potential ADE risk, healthcare providers can employ these clinical tools to identify medications for potential deprescribing.

 

Risk-Benefit Analysis

Older adults are vulnerable to ADEs associated with “high-risk” single medications and medication classes, including anticoagulants, benzodiazepines, cardiovascular agents, digoxin, hypoglycemics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, psychotropics, and those with anticholinergic effects. “High-risk” medication combinations—for example, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, diuretics, and NSAIDs in patients with chronic kidney disease (known as the “triple whammy”)—augment ADE risk.¹³

 

In a “Less is More” special communication about polypharmacy and deprescribing, experts proposed grouping medications into two categories for older adults to determine if the likely benefit outweighs potential risk/harm, while noting that medications may fall into both categories.¹³

 

“Disease and/or symptom control medications” are used to manage active disease and symptoms and help maintain quality of life.¹³ Discontinuing these medications could result in symptom return or functional decline due to disease worsening. Examples include analgesics, anti-anginals, anti-heart failure medications, and levothyroxine. Dose reduction of disease/symptom control drugs may be appropriate if symptoms are mild or intermittent, but these should be discontinued if altogether ineffective. Notably, aggressive treatment may be inappropriate for hypertension or diabetes management in some older adults, as this could increase the risks of hypotension or hypoglycemia, respectively.¹³

 

Preventive medications are intended to prevent future morbid events.¹³ Their use should be guided by assessment of absolute risks and benefits of treatment for individual patients, taking into consideration the time required for benefit (known as "time to benefit"), patient preferences, and estimated life expectancy. For example, osteoporosis guidelines recommend a “drug holiday” (temporary discontinuation of therapy) from bisphosphonates depending on fracture risk after five years of treatment to mitigate risk of atypical femoral fractures and osteonecrosis of the jaw. Despite discontinuation, bisphosphonates’ anti-fracture effects persist because this medication class has long half-lives and remain stored in bone for up to 10 years. Another example is statins, which are commonly used for primary prevention of cardiovascular events. Evidence suggests that statin discontinuation after eight years does not increase cardiovascular event risk.¹³

 

Choosing Wisely Campaign

The American Board of Internal Medicine’s global Choosing Wisely (CW) Campaign encourages patient engagement and healthcare provider conversation to choose care that is evidence-based, necessary, and free from harm. Since 2012, a compilation of more than 600 evidence-based statements from approximately 80 healthcare organizations advise healthcare providers, patients, and caregivers about optimization, appropriateness, and avoidance of unnecessary medical testing and treatments, available at https://www.choosingwisely.org/.^7,22,23,24

 

The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) convened a task force in 2018 under the CW campaign to further help pharmacists initiate and implement deprescribing. The task force reinforced deprescribing in older adults by reviewing and providing evidence-based references. ASCP’s guidance provides ten statements focused on avoiding DDIs and prescribing cascades and encouraged medication reviews to mitigate potential ADEs²⁵:

1. DO NOT initiate medications to treat new and emerging symptoms without first ascertaining that the new symptom is not an ADE related to an already prescribed medication.
2. DO NOT continue medications at care transitions without reviewing and reconciling to verify accurate and complete medication lists in concert with current medical problems.
3. DO NOT recommend highly anticholinergic medications in older adults without first considering safer alternatives or non-pharmacologic measures.
4. DO NOT use anticholinergics concomitantly with cholinesterase inhibitors for dementia.
5. DO NOT use two or more medications known to increase bleeding risk (e.g., antiplatelets, direct oral anticoagulants [DOACs], warfarin, aspirin, NSAIDs, corticosteroids, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), without evaluating the potential risks and benefits.
6. DO NOT prescribe or routinely continue medications for older adults with limited life expectancy without consideration to individual goals of care, presence of comorbidities, and time to benefit for preventive medications.
7. DO NOT use three or more central nervous system-active medications (e.g., antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, antiepileptics, Z-drugs, opioids, gabapentinoids).
8. DO NOT combine opioids with benzodiazepines or gabapentinoids to treat pain and DO re-evaluate routinely for deprescribing during chronic use.
9. DO NOT prescribe tramadol without consideration of the potential risks and harms related to serotonergic excess, seizures, falls, and drug-drug interactions (DDIs).
10. DO NOT use strong CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein inhibitors or inducers with DOACs and DO periodically assess for such DDIs.

 

The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) also worked on the CW campaign to identify treatments that potentially have more risks than benefits in older adults, concluding the following²⁶:

• DO NOT use antipsychotics first-line to treat behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.
• DO NOT use benzodiazepines or sedative-hypnotics first-line for insomnia, agitation, or delirium.
• DO NOT use cholinesterase inhibitors for dementia without periodic assessment for perceived cognitive benefits and adverse gastrointestinal effects.
• DO NOT use antidiabetics to achieve hemoglobin A1c less than 7.5% in most older adults; moderate control is generally better.
• DO NOT use antimicrobials to treat bacteriuria in older adults unless they experience specific urinary tract symptoms.
• DO NOT maintain long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy for gastrointestinal symptoms without an attempt to stop or reduce PPI at least once per year in most patients.
• DO NOT use NSAIDs for patients with hypertension, heart failure, or chronic kidney disease.
• DO NOT use prescription appetite stimulants or high-calorie supplements for treatment of anorexia or cachexia (unexplained wasting) in older adults.
• DO NOT prescribe medication without conducting a medication regimen review.

 

Prescribing Cascades

It bears repeating that providers should not initiate medications—prescription or over-the-counter (OTC)—or use a new medical device to treat new and emerging symptoms without first ascertaining that the new symptom is not an ADE of an already prescribed medication.²⁴ This is the first CW statement endorsed by ASCP and it describes a prescribing cascade. Prescribing cascades are preventable, yet often unrecognized, even though researchers in the geriatric field first introduced the concept in the 1990s and then revisited and expanded upon it in 2017.^27,28 They emphasized that “the identification and interruption of prescribing cascades is an important, actionable, and underappreciated opportunity to improve medication safety in older people.”^27,28

 

Prescribing cascades contribute to polypharmacy and adverse outcomes in vulnerable older adults. By becoming familiar with the common prescribing cascades, outlined in Table 3, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can identify culprit and cascade medications. If culprit medications remain clinically indicated, prescribers should use the lowest possible dose, a safer alternative with fewer adverse effects, or non-pharmacologic therapy, rather than initiating a cascade medication to address the ADE.

Table 3. Prescribing Cascades to Avoid or Amend29
CULPRIT MEDICATION	ADVERSE DRUG EVENT	CASCADE MEDICATION
ACE inhibitors	Cough	Cough suppressants
Alpha-1 blockers	Orthostatic hypotension	Meclizine
Amiodarone	Tremor	Lithium
	Hypothyroidism	Thyroid hormones
Amitriptyline	Cognitive impairment	Cholinesterase inhibitors
Antipsychotics	Cognitive impairment	Cholinesterase inhibitors
	Extrapyramidal symptoms	Benztropine
Benzodiazepines	Cognitive impairment	Cholinesterase inhibitors
Beta blockers	Depression	Antidepressants
Bisphosphonates	GERD	PPIs/H2RAs
Bupropion	Insomnia	Sedatives-hypnotics
Calcium channel blockers	Constipation	Laxatives
	Peripheral edema	Diuretics
Cholinesterase inhibitors	Insomnia	Sedatives-hypnotics
	Urinary incontinence	OAB anticholinergics
Corticosteroids	Insomnia	Sedatives-hypnotics
Diuretics	Urinary incontinence	OAB anticholinergics
Dopaminergics	Psychotic symptoms	Antipsychotics
Gabapentinoids	Peripheral edema	Diuretics
Lithium	Extrapyramidal symptoms	Antiparkinsonians
	Tremor	Propranolol
Metoclopramide	Extrapyramidal symptoms	Antiparkinsonians
NSAIDs	GI bleeding or heartburn	PPIs/H2RAs
	Hypertension	Antihypertensives
OAB anticholinergics	Cognitive impairment	Cholinesterase inhibitors
SGLT2 inhibitors	Urinary tract infections	Antibiotics
SSRIs/SNRIs	Insomnia	Sedatives-hypnotics
Statins	Myalgia	NSAIDs/opioids
Thiazide diuretics	Hyperuricemia or gout	Allopurinol/colchicine

ABBREVIATIONS: GERD = Gastroesophageal reflux disease; GI = Gastrointestinal; H2RAs = Histamine-2 receptor antagonists; NSAIDs = Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; OAB = Overactive bladder; PPIs = Proton pump inhibitors; SGLT2 = Sodium glucose cotransporter-2; SNRIs = Serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors; SSRIs = Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

 

Anticholinergic Medications

Older adults are more sensitive to anticholinergic adverse effects, including confusion, dry mouth, blurry vision, constipation, and urinary retention. A large case-control observational study of 58,769 patients diagnosed with dementia and 225,574 matched controls found statistically significant associations of dementia risk with exposure to anticholinergic medications, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, antiparkinsonians, antiepileptics, and bladder anticholinergics.³⁰ Participants who took a single strong anticholinergic medication daily for three years had almost 50% increased odds of dementia within a 10-year period. Dementia risk was increased in patients taking more than one anticholinergic medication due to the cumulative impact.³⁰ Pharmacists can use one or a combination of multiple validated expert anticholinergic scales to calculate aggregate anticholinergic scores. An anticholinergic burden score of three or higher is associated with increased cognitive impairment and mortality. The most frequently validated scale is the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale.^31,32 An Anticholinergic Burden Calculator is available at no cost for use here: https://www.acbcalc.com/.

 

A small longitudinal study of 69 participants found those who took an anticholinergic medication in combination with the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil over a two year period declined by seven points on the Mini-Mental State Examination as compared with a three point decline in those taking donepezil alone.³³ Thus, concomitant therapy with anticholinergics may counteract efficacy of cholinesterase therapy, resulting in a more rapid cognitive and functional decline.

 

Revisiting the case, Ms. Polly is taking donepezil for Alzheimer’s disease. Her prescriber consults with the pharmacist to initiate memantine for her progressive dementia due to increasing confusion and declining function. Medication review identifies several medications with anticholinergic effects that may be worsening Ms. Polly’s cognitive function, including cetirizine, diphenhydramine, furosemide, oxybutynin, and paroxetine. The pharmacist recommends deprescribing anticholinergic medications for which risk outweighs benefit. With reducing aggregate anticholinergic burden, donepezil may be more effective. This avoids added polypharmacy by initiating memantine, effectively preventing a prescribing cascade. Following discontinuation of these medications, the pharmacy technician can follow up with Ms. Polly and her caregiver to assess if there has been improvement.

 

Resources are available to assess polypharmacy and identify PIMs in vulnerable, older adults. The following section provides an overview, applicability, and utility in practice for the most common clinical tools: Beers Criteria, STOPP/START Criteria, STOPPFall Criteria, STOPPFrail Criteria, and the Medication Appropriateness Index.

 

Beers Criteria

The late Mark Beers, MD and his colleagues developed the Beers Criteria in 1991 with a mission to identify medications for which potential harm outweighed expected benefit and that should be avoided in long-term facilities. Since then, several updates have expanded the criteria to apply to older adults aged 65 years and older in ambulatory, acute, and institutionalized care settings, except end-of-life and hospice. Upon Dr. Beers’s death, AGS assumed responsibility for maintaining the criteria.

 

The 2023 AGS Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults is a well-known, widely available clinical tool to support shared clinical decision-making. It is available for free in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.³⁴ For ease of clinical practice application, the AGS provides a pocket card and an app, for a fee, available at https://geriatricscareonline.org/. To encourage engagement and conversation, AGS provides patient and caregiver educational resources that are available for free at https://www.healthinaging.org/.

 

The AGS Beers Criteria lists medications and medication classes that the society and its geriatric expert panel consider potentially inappropriate for use in older adults. The criteria are structured by category with each section including a clear rationale and recommendation:

1. Medications considered potentially inappropriate
2. Medications potentially inappropriate in patients with certain diseases or syndromes
3. Medications to use with caution
4. Potentially inappropriate drug-drug interactions
5. Medications to avoid or adjust dosages based on renal function
6. Medications with strong anticholinergic effects

 

Importantly, the identified medications are “potentially inappropriate” rather than “definitely inappropriate.” The key word is “potentially,” as the prescribing and deprescribing processes are to be patient centric. The AGS panel recognizes that harm is typically more pronounced in the “old-old” than in the “young-old” and in patients with complex multi-morbidity and frailty.³⁴ The indicators are categorized based on whether they involve avoiding the initiation of a PIM or discontinuing one that is already prescribed. To apply the AGS Beers Criteria, prescribers and pharmacists must identify the PIMs and, when clinically appropriate, consider safer pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic alternatives.

 

STOPP/START Criteria

The Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescriptions (STOPP) and Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment (START) criteria are additional resources for identifying potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults. These aim to identify PIMs and potential prescribing omissions, respectively.³⁵ The STOPP criteria are most helpful in the context of polypharmacy. The original version, published in 2008, included 65 STOPP criteria, which more than doubled in the third version, updated in 2023, with 133 STOPP criteria. These more expansive criteria assist pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in identifying and preventing more DDIs, drug-disease interactions, and potential ADEs during medication reviews.

 

The STOPP criteria is divided into sections by organ systems—including cardiovascular, coagulation, central nervous, renal, gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal, urogenital, and endocrine—with separate sections for drugs that increase fall risk, analgesics, and antimuscarinic or anticholinergic drugs.³⁵ The criteria also address the need to clarify an indication for each medication, labeling the following as PIMs:

• Any medication prescribed without a clinical indication
• Any medication prescribed beyond recommended duration
• Any duplicate medication class

 

Additional variations of the STOPP criteria help healthcare providers to identify PIMs in older adults with a high risk of falls (STOPPFall) and in those with limited life expectancy (STOPPFrail).^36,37 STOPPFall identifies medication classes considered to be fall-risk-increasing-drugs (FRIDs). To further assist in shared-decision making of deprescribing, practical decision trees based on the STOPPFall guidance are available online (https://kik.amc.nl/falls/decision-tree/).³⁶

 

While most prescribing tools are designed to identify and prevent PIMs in the general older population, STOPPFrail consists of 27 potentially inappropriate prescribing indicators to assist healthcare providers in deprescribing in frail older adults.³⁷ Deprescribing in frail older adults may improve their quality of life through a reduction in adverse events, hospitalizations, and mortality. Medication review in this population should focus on deprescribing and symptom management, rather than preventive and intensive treatment. STOPPFrail is applicable in adults aged 65 or older who meet all the following criteria³⁷:

• End-stage irreversible pathology
• Poor one year survival prognosis
• Severe functional or cognitive impairment or both
• Symptom control is priority rather than preventing disease progression

 

Example criteria include³⁷

• Avoid antiplatelets for primary cardiovascular prevention due to lack of evidence
• Bisphosphonates are unlikely to be beneficial for short-term osteoporosis treatment
• Aim for antidiabetic monotherapy with less stringent glycemic control (i.e., hemoglobin A1c goal of less than 8%)

 

End-of-Life Care

Prescribers and pharmacists should re-evaluate medications and minimize the pill burden for patients receiving palliative care, particularly at end-of-life (i.e., life expectancy of less than three months). Prevention of long-term complications is no longer indicated.²¹ Rather, the goal is comfort care through symptom-specific medications (SSMs) to treat pain, dyspnea (shortness of breath), nausea, cognitive disturbances, anxiety, and depression. The number of SSMs increases while the number of medications intended to treat comorbidities decreases. Therefore, the definition of polypharmacy shifts for end-of-life care, focusing on inappropriate medication use.

 

The shared decision-making process must still consider patient and caregiver preferences. While some patients may prefer only symptomatic treatment without life-prolonging measures, other patients may feel neglected following discontinuation of certain long-term medications.²¹ A literature review of 67 articles established preliminary recommendations for long-term medication classes shown in Table 4.²¹

 

Table 4. Deprescribing at End-of-Life21
MEDICATION CLASS	RECOMMENDED ACTION PLAN	GDR
Anticoagulants	Discontinue for deep vein thrombosis primary prevention	No
Antihyperglycemics	Reduced dosages to prevent hypoglycemia	Variable
Antihypertensives	Discontinue for hypertension	Yes
Antimicrobials	Variable: goal is symptom control	No
Statins	Discontinue	No

ABBREVIATIONS: GDR = gradual dose reduction

 

Medication Appropriateness Index

Unlike the previously mentioned clinical tools that are PIMs and medication class lists developed by expert consensus; the Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) is patient centric. The MAI, developed more than 30 years ago, is a patient screening tool that measures potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults. The 10 simple questions focus on indication, effectiveness, dosing, duration, and potential for interactions to ultimately rate medications as appropriate, marginally appropriate, or inappropriate.^38,39 A MAI Calculator is available at no cost for use here: https://globalrph.com/medcalcs/medication-appropriateness-index-calculator/.

 

HOW TO SAFELY DEPRESCRIBE

 

Deprescribing Tools

Once polypharmacy and PIMs are identified, many clinical tools are available to analyze benefit versus risk and guide pharmacy teams on how to safely discontinue specific medications and medication classes.

 

Deprescribing.org

https://deprescribing.org/resources/

Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network

https://www.deprescribingnetwork.ca/professionals

 

Deprescribing.org is a website developed by Canadian pharmacists that provides guidance, tools, and approaches for deprescribing.⁴⁰ Included within these resources are evidence-based guidelines and easy to use algorithms to determine when and how to stop specific medication classes: antihyperglycemics, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, and PPIs.⁴⁰ The companion site, Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network, provides additional guidance on commonly inappropriate medications for healthcare providers and patients, including a Deprescribing Educational Program and brochures.⁴¹

 

US Deprescribing Research Network https://deprescribingresearch.org/resources-2/resources-for-clinicians/

The US Deprescribing Research Network is a tool funded by the National Institute of Aging to develop and provide information on deprescribing for older adults.⁴² The network’s efforts center around four “cores” addressing the needs of different stakeholders (e.g., researchers, patients) and a series of working groups focusing on research and standardized outcome measures. Resources for healthcare providers promote education by providing guides for specific medication classes and reference the deprescribing tools described above.⁴²

 

Primary Health Tasmania https://www.primaryhealthtas.com.au/resources/deprescribing-resources/

Primary Health Tasmania is a not-for-profit organization in Australia that provides a comprehensive guide to personalized deprescribing, including principles, assessment of benefit versus harm, and patient and healthcare provider perceptions. These in-depth guidelines recommend deprescribing strategies for an extensive list of common medication classes: allopurinol, anticholinergics, anticoagulants, antiepileptics, antihyperglycemics, antihypertensives, antiplatelets, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, bisphosphonates, cholinesterase inhibitors, gabapentinoids, glaucoma ophthalmics, inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting nitrates, NSAIDs, opioids, PPIs, statins, and calcium and vitamin D.⁴³

 

MedStopper https://medstopper.com/

MedStopper is an online clinical tool for polypharmacy that assists healthcare providers, patients, and caregivers in the shared decision-making process and prioritization of deprescribing.⁴⁴ Upon entering a patient’s regimen, MedStopper arranges the medications from “more likely to stop” to “less likely to stop,” based on the criteria in Table 5. A team of clinicians and researchers affiliated with Canadian healthcare institutions, including the University of British Columbia and the Centre for Effective Practice developed this site and is grounded in evidence-based resources such as the Beers and STOPP/START Criteria. However, it remains in the Beta testing phase, so pharmacy teams should still use it with caution.⁴⁴

 

Table 5. Deprescribing Opportunities and Prioritization44
Medication	Conversation
Potential to improve symptoms	Is the medication helping symptoms?
Potential to reduce the risk of future illness	Does the effectiveness justify the potential adverse effects, inconvenience, and cost?
Likelihood to cause harm	Are symptoms caused by medications?

 

Using the Edmonton Frail Scale, healthcare providers can identify patients as frail to adjust MedStopper’s “may cause harm” ranking. The specific indication for each medication affects the ranking categories for “may improve symptoms” or “may reduce future illness.” Categories are based on the rating levels of an unhappy, neutral, or happy face, with a color-coded discontinuation priority. Medications and indications also include links for resources, such as calculators for risk/benefit assessment, NNT, Beers Criteria, or STOPP Criteria. Healthcare providers can reference the tapering suggestions and symptom monitoring, as appropriate.⁴⁴

 

Go back and review Ms. Polly’s medication regimen in Table 1. Which medications may be inappropriate based on the numerous prescribing and deprescribing tools that are readily available? Figure 2 shows a snapshot of a suggested plan for deprescribing utilizing the MedStopper clinical tool.

 

Figure 2. Deprescribing Plan Based on Stopping Priority by MedStopper

NOTE: Incomplete medication regimen

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: When do medications need a gradual dose reduction for discontinuation?

 

Pharmacist-Led Deprescribing

Research shows that comprehensive medication reviews may reduce PIM use and mortality in community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older.⁶ A narrative review of 25 global randomized controlled trials found that pharmacist-led deprescribing interventions had a beneficial effect on 69% of medication outcomes—including discontinuation, dose reductions, and medication changes—for patients with a mean age of 60 years or older residing in the community and nursing facilities.⁴⁵

 

Pharmacists must follow a stepwise, patient-centric approach to deprescribing, while performing a comprehensive medication review of prescription and OTC medications as depicted in Figure 3. Since prescribing and deprescribing clinical tools do not consider preferences, life expectancy, and goals of care, it is essential to understand “what matters” to the patient and/or caregiver.

 

Figure 3. Stepwise Approach to Deprescribing

ABBREVIATIONS: MRPs = medication-related problems

 

Prescribers, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians should assess if patients are not adhering to prescribed medications and, if not, why. Opportunities to deprescribe may be identified by asking just one question to a patient and/or caregiver. Pharmacy technicians are typically trained to ask, “do you have any questions for the pharmacist about your medication?” Instead, open-ended questions, such as “how do you feel about the number and types of medication you take?” or “how did your new medication help with your symptoms?” could gather more useful information. It is also important to ask if patients experience any adverse effects from their medications.

 

What Matters and Shared Goals

Deprescribing conversations ought to involve shared decision-making. Research shows older adults’ priorities are typically maintaining cognition, function, and independence over life extension.^46,47 Patient preferences and health status change over time. Knowing a patient’s priorities and preferences about medication use helps align treatment decisions and guide deprescribing.

 

To determine a patient’s health priorities and preferences, healthcare providers can use the universal health Outcome Prioritization Tool (OPT) which is nonspecific to diseases and treatments. This simple tool elicits the preferences of older adults by having them consider trade-offs and rank the relative importance of four health outcomes^46,47:

1. extending life (regardless of health)
2. preserving independence/maintaining function and activities of daily living
3. reducing or eliminating pain
4. reducing or eliminating symptoms (e.g., dizziness, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath)

 

Several studies found that preserving independence and reducing pain were the most important health outcomes, whereas life extension was the least important.^18,48,49 In the Older Patients’ Perceptions of Medicines and Willingness to Deprescribe survey, of the 50 participants, 76% wanted to keep their symptomatic medications and 61% wanted to keep their preventive medications.¹⁸

 

The “What Matters to You?” study of 350 patients used the OPT to assess the most important health outcome for older adults.⁵⁰ Patients with cognitive impairment more often prioritized life extension. Importantly, cognitively impaired patients may struggle to understand health outcomes and the “trade-off principle”—prioritizing one health outcome while accepting potential deterioration in other health outcomes—which makes patients weigh and prioritize health goals. Patients with declining health status are generally more accepting of further decline. A secondary outcome found that the OPT is feasible for intensive treatment decision-making. For those patients who are unable to prioritize the four health outcomes, the OPT is still useful to facilitate a conversation about patient preferences and trade-offs to align decision-making.⁵⁰

 

Considering Ms. Polly: how can the 4Ms aid in recommending oxybutynin discontinuation to her prescriber? “What matters to the patient is being able to continue to live in her home. Oxybutynin is anticholinergic and is negatively affecting her mentation and mobility as she has recent falls. Please consider a discontinuation trial of oxybutynin and non-pharmacologic options for overactive bladder.”

 

Identifying Medications for Discontinuation

Upon establishing goals of care, the next step is to engage the patient or caregiver and decide whether to deprescribe any medications. Common reasons for deprescribing include

1. No active indication (e.g., health condition resolved)
2. New or worsening condition
3. Potential risks outweigh anticipated benefits
4. Preventive indication with life-limiting conditions
5. Lack of benefit or ineffectiveness
6. Result of a prescribing cascade
7. Nonadherence
8. Interactions or ADEs

 

Prescribers and pharmacists can use the available prescribing and deprescribing clinical tools, but they must also review all medications and assess the benefit versus risk for individualized patients.

 

Developing an Action Plan

Upon identifying medications to deprescribe, prescribers and pharmacists must collaborate to develop an action plan to implement, monitor, and follow-up. When deprescribing, withdraw medications one-by-one by prioritizing those that are inappropriate and/or increase the risk of harm. It is critical to continuously consider “what matters” to the patient. Multiple medications can be withdrawn simultaneously if patients are experiencing ADEs, medications are easy to discontinue, or if they have minimal withdrawal effects.

 

If deprescribing is justified, prescribers, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians need a plan of action for each medication (i.e., whether to abruptly stop or if gradual dose reduction (GDR) is necessary). Healthcare providers need to educate patients or caregivers on withdrawal symptoms to look for and emphasize the need to promptly report them.

 

Certain medications require a GDR or taper to prevent an adverse drug withdrawal event—meaning discontinuation results in clinically significant symptoms or signs—or worsened conditions.⁵¹ GDRs can identify the lowest effective dose, minimize symptom re-occurrence, and encourage patient willingness. For example, discontinuing benzodiazepines may cause agitation. If this withdrawal symptom is unfamiliar to healthcare providers, then a prescribing cascade may occur with initiation of an antipsychotic.⁴³

 

Most medications have limited evidence and few guidelines for deprescribing. If no guidance is available, it is safer to attempt a GDR over weeks to months to discontinue rather than abruptly discontinuing. If a deprescribing guideline is unavailable, taper and discontinue medications in reverse of guideline recommended treatment. For example, the prescribing information for donepezil recommends initiation of therapy at 5 mg daily for four to six weeks, then increase the dose to 10 mg daily. To taper donepezil, decrease the 10 mg daily dose to 5 mg daily for four to six weeks and then discontinue therapy. Pharmacists can recommend a GDR plan in consideration of pharmacokinetics (e.g., half-lives), pharmacodynamics, dose, and duration of medications.⁵¹

 

To achieve successful deprescribing, a trusting relationship, ongoing communication, and adequate documentation is essential between prescribers, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, patients, and caregivers. Using the word “trial” is reassuring to patients and caregivers since it implies patients can restart the medication if needed.

 

Returning to Ms. Polly, the pharmacist can initiate the conversation with her daughter by saying, “I understand you feel overwhelmed. It seems now would be a good time to take another look at your mother’s medications. We can ease the burden of her medication regimen and simplify it for her. This trial of stopping a couple of her medications may help with her confusion and lower her fall risk.”

 

CONCLUSION

Deprescribing is an essential part of good prescribing and an important strategy. It ensure older adults are not taking suboptimal medications. Effective and safe deprescribing requires a patient-centered, shared decision-making approach with evaluation of preferences, level of functioning, life expectancy, and goals of care. Numerous clinical resources are available to reduce polypharmacy, assess benefit versus risk, and provide guidance and approaches for how to discontinue specific medications. Deprescribing inappropriate or unnecessary medications impacts clinical outcomes—such as reduction in hospitalizations, ED visits, falls and overall healthcare costs—mitigates ADEs, and improves quality of life. Simplifying more complex medication regimens may also improve patient adherence to essential medications.

 

With a strong foundation in deprescribing principles and tools, it’s time to reevaluate Ms. Polly’s medication regimen one last time. What other medications should be considered for deprescribing to reduce polypharmacy, mitigate ADEs, and improve quality of life for both Ms. Polly and her daughter?

 

Download CE Activity

INTRODUCTION

Ray and Kai are pharmacists that work together in a very busy outpatient clinic pharmacy. On a typical day, they fill around 800 prescriptions, and they usually have help from three technicians. Unfortunately, if anyone calls out sick or with an emergency, they don't have backup coverage.

 

Several times a week, patients return to the pharmacy and indicate that the prescriptions they received don't seem to be correct. Occasionally, Ray and Kai discover a medication error when patients indicate that their tablets or capsules don't look the same as a previous refill. Just yesterday, a mother returned to the pharmacy because her child’s liquid amoxicillin/clavulanate ran out before it should have. When Kai examined the label, she found a typographical error; it said, “take 5 mL three times a day” when it should have said, “take 2.5 mL three times a day.”

 

When staff members in this pharmacy identify medication errors, they usually discuss the problem quietly with the involved staff and make a mental note to implement corrective action or pay closer attention. Their pharmacy’s workload, staffing, error rate, and method of dealing with medication errors is not much different than many pharmacies across our nation. Throughout this continuing education activity, this example and others will help learners apply the lessons that experts have learned from analyzing medication errors.

 

Patient safety is a cornerstone of quality healthcare, and pharmacy professionals have an obligation to ensure patients receive safe and effective medications. Medication errors often stem from communication gaps, system complexities, or improper medication use. These errors not only compromise patient outcomes but also contribute to increased healthcare costs and increase risks of medication-related adverse effects.¹

 

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) tallies and analyzes medication error reports from the National Medication Errors Reporting Program, which is administered by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). NCC MERP defines a medication error as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm.” Medication errors occur at various stages of the medication-use process, from prescribing and dispensing to administration and monitoring.² Recognizing these errors and implementing prevention strategies are essential to improving patient safety and advancing pharmacy practice.

 

OVERVIEW OF MEDICATION ERRORS

To truly appreciate medication errors’ impact on patients, pharmacy team members must recognize common terms and types of errors.

 

Medication Error Terminology

Several medication errors can arise in clinical and retail settings. To actively prevent patient injury through medication errors, it is important to know what to look for in practice. Terms to be familiar with in all pharmacy practice settings include^3,4:

• Adverse drug event (ADE): An injury resulting from medical intervention related to a drug
• Adverse drug reaction (ADR): An unintended reaction occurring at the intended drug dose
• High-alert medications: Drugs that bear a heightened risk of causing significant patient harm when used in error
• Look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medications: Medications with similar-looking or similar-sounding names and/or shared features of products or packaging, leading to potential confusion
• Medication reconciliation: The process of creating the most accurate list possible of all medications a patient is taking—including drug name, dosage, frequency, and route—and comparing that list against the physician's admission, transfer, and/or discharge orders, with the goal of providing correct medications to the patient at all transition points

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: When an error is identified, how does your pharmacy respond?

 

Defining and Classifying Medication Errors

Table 1 lists common medication errors that may occur throughout the stages of medication use.⁴

Table 1. Common Medication Errors⁴

Error Type	Description	Examples
Prescribing	Errors occurring when ordering medication	Wrong drug selection, incorrect dose/frequency, illegible handwriting, incomplete prescription, drug interactions
Dispensing	Errors occurring during medication preparation and distribution	Wrong medication, wrong strength, wrong dosage form, incorrect labeling, look-alike/sound-alike drug confusion
Administration	Errors occurring during drug administration to the patient	Wrong route, wrong dose, wrong rate, omission, administering to the wrong patient
Monitoring	Errors occurring due to lack of proper patient monitoring	Failure to monitor for adverse effects, inadequate lab test follow-up, failure to adjust dose for renal/hepatic function

 

Most medication errors are preventable and can also be classified by the severity of their impact on the affected patient. Leading organizations, such as NCC MERP, have developed taxonomies to classify medication errors in more detail, including nine categories labeled A through I. These categories range from circumstances that have the capacity to cause error (Category A) to errors that result in patient death (Category I). While categories E through I describe varying degrees of harm to the patient, categories A through D involve situations with no patient harm. These classifications help institutions analyze trends and implement targeted interventions.⁵

 

Figure 1 displays NCC MERP’s medication error classifications with severity levels increasing from top to bottom.⁵

 

Figure 1. Medication Error Classification⁵

 

A patient comes in to pick up a prescription at Ray and Kai’s pharmacy and the line is out the door. As Kai retrieves the medication, she quickly confirms the patient’s last name and date of birth. Ray knows the patient and greets him; “Hey Charlie, how are the kids?” Kai then realized the prescription in hand was meant for a different patient by the name of Billy and was in the same bin. The correct medication is retrieved, and the patient safely receives what was actually prescribed, resulting in a near miss, rather than a full medication error.

 

Later, Ray and Kai sit down to reflect on what could have happened if the mistake hadn’t been caught in time. If the pharmacy dispensed the wrong medication and the patient noticed and brought it back before taking it, this would be an error, no harm situation. However, if the patient took the incorrect medication and experienced harmful adverse effects, it would result in an error, harm situation. In a more severe scenario, if the patient took the wrong medication and had an allergic reaction or other fatal outcome, it would be considered error, death. After discussion, Ray and Kai decide to speak to the staff about the importance of verifying patient information in full at every encounter. They relay a PRO TIP: employees can place prescriptions for patients with similar names in separate bins to avoid confusion.

 

Even the smallest and most routine tasks, such as verifying a patient’s identity, carry immense responsibility. Every action performed in a pharmacy setting has a direct impact on patient health. A moment of inattention or a skipped step can be the difference between preventing harm and causing irreversible consequences. That’s why it is crucial to approach every task, no matter how routine, with full attention and diligence

 

Beyond preventing individual mistakes, classifying and analyzing medication errors is a key to improving patient care on a larger scale. Recognizing and labeling these errors—whether they are near misses, errors with no harm, or more serious mistakes—provides valuable insight into when and where they happen. By identifying patterns, pharmacies can implement targeted safety measures to minimize risks.^4,5

 

ANALYSE, DOCUMENT, PREVENT

Medication Error Rates

To identify and reduce medication errors effectively, individuals and institutions must track their occurrences systemically. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by calculating the medication error rate, which provides valuable insight into areas requiring improvement.⁶ The formula for calculating the medication error rate is as follows:

<<ADD IMAGE>>

 

The numerator represents the total number of medication errors recorded during a given period, with each error event counted as one. The denominator consists of all medication orders or doses that were dispensed and administered.⁶ This formula applies across all pharmacy settings, including both community and hospital environments.

 

 

For example, a hospital pharmacy dispenses 100,000 doses in a month and identifies 50 medication errors in that month. What is the medication error rate?

 

Once calculated, error rates are a crucial tool for identifying trends and implementing targeted interventions. By analyzing the data, healthcare teams can pinpoint high-risk areas, set measurable goals, and put corrective measures into action to minimize errors. This proactive approach not only enhances patient safety; it also optimizes pharmacy workflow and overall efficiency.

 

The pharmacy where Ray and Kai work is accredited. During an accreditation audit, one of the surveyors asks Ray about their medication error rate. Ray is unable to answer. The surveyor pushes a little and asks Ray to provide copies of all incident reports regarding medication errors. Ray finds two or three in which the medication error was serious enough to attract attention from the clinical staff or the clinic's risk manager. When the surveyor explains how to calculate a medication error rate, Ray listens carefully. Needless to say, the surveyor noted the lack of documentation about medication errors as a deficit in the survey and indicated that she did not believe that they only had three medication errors in the past year. When Ray and Kai meet to plan corrective action, they realize that without good documentation, they cannot make this calculation.

 

To ensure accuracy and reliability, all pharmacy and healthcare organizations must foster a culture of transparency and promote non-punitive error reporting.^6,7 Management must encourage staff to report errors without fear of retribution, allowing institutions to collect comprehensive data and develop effective mitigation strategies. Hospitals and community pharmacies can gain valuable insight into their performance by benchmarking their calculated error rates against institutions of similar size and complexity. Comparing rates with national standards or similar organizations helps ensure adherence to best practices and provides insight into additional potential interventions.⁷

 

Documenting Medication Errors

Pharmacists and technicians should know how to document and report incidents that occur in their pharmacy properly, usually following policies or procedures put in place by their institution and legal regulations. Unusual incident reports (UIRs) are a formal mechanism for documenting clinically significant medication errors and near misses.

 

Following identification of an incident and corrective patient measures, all relevant personnel should be notified and asked to record their recall of events. These reports should include key details such as who was involved, when and where the incident occurred, type of error, contributing factors, and corrective actions taken.⁸ To prevent recurrence of an incident or find a systemic issue leading to incidents, errors should regularly be recorded regardless of severity or whether it reached the patient or not. A PRO TIP is to maintain a list of errors that should be documented and keep unused UIRs in an accessible place (e.g., pinned on all desktops or stored in designated folders), encouraging staff to fill them out. These forms should be completed in full and a PRO TIP is to include instructions on what steps to take following the incident (i.e., read over and include any forgotten details, ensure all relevant staff is notified). Investigative staff should thoroughly gather data pertaining to the incident, including records, UIRs, patient notes, and physical items used in the event.⁹ Staff should establish a clear chronology of events to determine the root cause and prevent future occurrences.

 

Pharmacists and technicians should be well-versed in properly documenting and reporting incidents in their pharmacy, usually following institutional policies and legal regulations. UIRs serve as a formal mechanism for recording clinically significant errors and near misses. The following steps are necessary for proper documentation and reporting^8-10:

1. Identify and respond to the incident
   • When an error or near miss occurs, prioritize patient safety by taking corrective actions and notify all relevant personnel, including leadership.
2. Thoroughly document the incident
   • UIRs should capture key details such as
     1. who was involved
     2. when and where the incident occurred
     3. type of error and contributing factors
     4. corrective actions taken and follow-up measures
   • All involved personnel should document their recollection of events promptly to ensure accuracy.
3.  Encourage consistent reporting
   • To prevent recurrences and identify systemic issues, all errors—regardless of patient impact severity—should be recorded.
   • PROTIP: Maintain a list of errors that must be documented and keep unused UIRs easily accessible (i.e., pinned on desktops or stored in a designated folder) to encourage completion.
   • Forms should be fully completed, and staff should review their entries for accuracy before submission.
4.  Investigate and analyze the incident
   • Investigative staff should collect all relevant data, including UIRs, records, forms, and any physical items used in the event.
   • Establish a clear chronology of events to determine the root cause and prevent future occurrences.

 

UIRs are considered Quality Improvement data in healthcare organizations, making them confidential and generally protected from disclosure under laws like the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act.¹¹ Organizations use these reports internally to enhance patient safety and do not share them with patients or lawyers. However, protection can vary based on state laws and institutional policies, so a PRO TIP for organizations would be to highlight their specific policies and require additional training and separate filings to ensure proper procedures to maintain confidentiality.

 

Individuals must report serious medication errors resulting in patients harm or regulatory violations to state boards of pharmacy and should also report them to accreditation agencies (e.g., Joint Commission) and the FDA through the MedWatch program.⁸ Pharmacy personnel is expected to know how and when to use institution-specific forms and to revise these to simplify and encourage the error reporting process.

 

Ray and Kai are motivated to track medication errors better. When they dust off their stack of unused UIR forms, they realize that their forms are skeletal and their organization would benefit from a better tool. One of their technicians, Tara, volunteers to look at a number of different forms and identifies four. The staff chooses to “pilot” two, meaning they will document all medication errors that occur over the next three weeks on both forms, and then analyze the results. At the end of the pilot, they choose one form but realize that they need to tailor it to their practice. Tara also notes that they could automate the form and include a picture of the dosage forms that were involved.

 

Within three months, Ray and Kai realize from the pictures that a full 25% of their errors involve tablets that are white. Ray and Kai can share a PRO TIP with other organizations now. They create a whiteboard that lists most of their white tablets and the tablet markings. The technicians who handle inventory update the whiteboard when they change generics. Additionally, whenever Ray or Kai visually verify a prescription for a white tablet, they note the tablet marking on the prescription. In this way, they eliminate a good number of errors.

 

Institutions may have different methods for documenting unusual incidents, so it is essential that pharmacy staff know how to access and properly complete these forms. Keeping UIR forms up to date ensures they remain effective and relevant. Attached are three different incident report forms; review them carefully and identify their similarities and differences (see Appendix).^12-14

 

Accurate medication error reporting is the underpinning of identifying risks and improving patient safety. However, traditional error-reporting systems often capture only a portion of actual incidents and do not usually account for adverse effects. This could be attributed to limitations in error-reporting, including but not limited to underreporting due to fear of punishment, time-consuming processes, and a lack of feedback and follow-up.¹⁵ Research suggests that the use of observation, when appropriate and feasible, could lead to more accurate detection of medication errors in practice.^16,17 When applicable, institutions can use observation in combination with tracking error reports and greatly reduce the frequency of medication errors.

 

A strong culture of safety in pharmacy practice encourages transparent error reporting and non-punitive responses. Employees should feel comfortable reporting mistakes without fear of disciplinary action, as this fosters a learning environment rather than a blame culture. Encouraging reporting allows institutions to^7,18

• identify error trends and implement preventative measures
• provide additional training where needed
• improve medication safety policies and procedures

 

All people in positions of authority should encourage pharmacy personnel to report medication errors to their institutions and to the FDA, ISMP, or NCC MERP if appropriate.¹⁹

 

System-Based Prevention Approaches

Healthcare institutions implement structured systems to enhance workflow efficiency and minimize medication errors. These systems provide standardized protocols, technological advancements, and communications strategies that help pharmacy personnel ensure safe and accurate medication dispensing and administration.

 

With advancements in technology, healthcare professionals frequently rely on automated systems to assist with medication safety. While these tools greatly reduce the potential for human error, they should be used to complement, not replace, pharmacist and technician expertise. Proper training and implementation of these tools are essential to their effectiveness. Key technologies that reduce medication errors include the following^18,20,21:

• Barcode scanning as an additional verification step in the dispensing and administration process ensures that the correct drug, dose, and patient matches the prescription and manufacturer specifications.
• Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and e-prescribing reduce errors by eliminating the risk of misinterpreting handwritten prescriptions. CPOE also alerts prescribers about potential drug interactions, allergies, and dosing errors before orders are processed.
• Automated dispensing cabinets, commonly used in hospitals, help regulate medication storage, access, and tracking to prevent unauthorized or incorrect dispensing.

 

To maximize these systems’ effectiveness, pharmacy staff must remain vigilant, ensuring that they do not blindly trust automation. As recommended by the ISMP, conducting manual double-checks judiciously, selective to certain high-risk tasks or medications, can further enhance patient safety.²²

 

Familiarizing all staff with institutional standard operating procedures (SOPs) is essential for ensuring consistent and safe practice. These guidelines outline step-by-step procedures for specific pharmacy operations, reducing deviations that could lead to medication errors.²³ When adhered to properly, SOPs standardize processes (minimizing variability and human error), provide clear instructions for handling high-alert medications, and outline best practices for prescription verification, dispensing, and patient counseling.^21,23 For example, a hospital SOP may require two licensed healthcare professionals to verify chemotherapy doses independently before administration. In a community pharmacy, an SOP may require mandatory counseling for first-time prescriptions of high-risk medications, such as opioids or anticoagulants. Having SOPs and checklists readily accessible ensures that pharmacy personnel can reference best practices quickly when dealing with complex or high-risk situations.

 

SIDEBAR: A Word About CHECKLISTS

When checklists are numerous in quantity and poor in design, pharmacy staff may experience a sense of checklist fatigue, becoming overwhelmed and disengaged with completing them. This could lead to rushed or skipped steps, negatively impacting performance and patient safety. The following lists some strategies to avoid feeling desensitized to the repetitive nature of checklists^22,24,25:

• Use checklists selectively by focusing on the most important or highest-risk tasks
• Improve the design to be clear, concise, and easy to follow
• Avoid unnecessary or redundant steps
• Regularly ensure the checklists are up-to-date and effective
• Address fatigue with staff and provide training and feedback on the importance of each step

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: When reviewing a prescription, what red flags should prompt you to double check with a prescriber, pharmacist, or colleague?

 

PHARMACY PRACTICE CONSIDERATIONS

Each pharmacy practice type has its own unique concerns and considerations with regard to medication error reporting.

 

Community Pharmacy

In a retail or clinic pharmacy setting, like the one in which Ray and Kai work, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must exercise caution throughout the prescription filling process to prevent errors. These errors can be minor and initially go unnoticed, but can lead to serious adverse events, hospitalizations, or even fatalities if not promptly identified and addressed.²⁶

 

The first stage of medication processing—receiving a prescription—creates a significant risk for errors. Whether prescriptions are transmitted electronically, by phone, or handwritten, pharmacy personnel may misread, misinterpret, or fail to recognize important details.²⁷ Especially in high-volume settings, healthcare professionals should prioritize accuracy by seeking prescriber clarification when needed, rather than making assumptions or rushing through interpretation.  Errors can also originate from prescribers, and pharmacy personnel should have a high index of suspicion that every prescription is incorrect. Calling to clarify questionable doses or frequencies ensures patient safety and may also prompt prescribers to recognize and correct unintended mistakes.²⁶ All three errors that Ray and Kai documented had been serious enough to result in an ADE or ADR. When they looked back at these errors, they realized that for two of them, if they had questioned the patients or called the prescribers, the errors may have been avoided entirely.

 

Common errors that pharmacists and technicians should be vigilant about in community pharmacy include^1,3,27,28

• Misinterpreting abbreviations and symbols: Sloppy abbreviations and symbols can lead to dangerous dosing errors. Table 2 summarizes the Joint Commission’s “DO NOT USE” list of abbreviations that should be displayed in pharmacies.
• LASA medications: Medications with similar names can be easily confused if not carefully verified.
• Incorrect dosing and strength selection: Errors can occur by selecting the wrong strength of a medication or miscalculating pediatric or weight-based doses.

 

Table 2. The Joint Commission’s “DO NOT USE” List²⁸

Do Not Use	Potential Problem	Use Instead
U, u	Mistaken for “0” (zero), the number “4” (four) or “cc”	Write “unit
IU	Mistaken for IV (intravenous) or the number 10 (ten)	Write “International Unit”
Q.D., QD, q.d., qd   Q.O.D., QOD, q.o.d., qod	Mistaken for each other   Period after the Q mistaken for “I” and the “O” mistaken for “I”	Write “daily”   Write “every other day”
Trailing zero (X.0 mg) * Lack of leading zero (.X mg)	Decimal point is missed	Write X mg Write 0.X mg
MS   MSO4 and MgSO4	Can mean morphine sulfate or magnesium sulfate   Confused for one another	Write “morphine sulfate”   Write “magnesium sulfate”

*Exception: A trailing zero is only allowed when necessary to indicate the exact level of precision, such as in laboratory results, imaging studies that report lesion sizes, or catheter/tube sizes. It may not be used in medication orders or other medication-related documentation.

 

Maintaining readily accessible reference lists can help pharmacy personnel cross-check potential medication errors before contacting prescribers. The ISMP has identified numerous LASA pairs that contribute to medication errors and has created lists of commonly confused abbreviations and symbols.²⁹ Additionally, using TALL Man lettering (e.g., capitalizing part of a drug's name in upper case letters to differentiate similar drug names like hydrALAzine vs hydrOXYzine) when documenting or labeling LASA medications can minimize confusion.²⁹

 

In the hypothetical pharmacy, Ray notes that one of the technicians consistently fills prescriptions for dipyridamole with diphenhydramine. He has pointed this problem out to the technician several times and asked the technician to find the correct medication, but the problem continues. After learning about TALL Man lettering, he realizes that their computer system does not use this simple but useful intervention. He contacts the programmers and asks if they can make the changes, providing the ISMP's list of drugs for which this intervention could prevent many errors. A PRO TIP here is to ask the technician to use a highlighter to highlight the part of the drug name that follows "DIP-" on all drugs that begin with these three letters before filling prescriptions.

 

Errors often arise during the later stages of prescription processing, including data entry, assembly, and pharmacist verification. Pharmacy personnel may rely too heavily on the auto-populated fields in electronic prescribing systems (e.g., McKesson, PioneerRx), assuming the information is correct without double-checking key details. This could lead to incorrect medication strengths, frequency, or refill quantities, ultimately causing billing issues or improper medication dispensing.^27,20

 

Dispensing the wrong formulation can occur if pharmacy staff select similar-looking bottles. Barcode scanning technology can help reduce assembly errors by ensuring use of the correct product. Pharmacists must physically inspect medications rather than relying solely on electronic systems. Pharmacy staff should attach medication guides, auxiliary labels, and other patient education materials as necessary. Pharmacy professionals must recognize that technology is a tool, not a replacement for human oversight. Systems may have glitches or auto-fill errors, and staff should remain vigilant to manually verify accuracy when needed. ²⁰

 

Over the few weeks after the accreditation survey, Ray and Kai see a number of minor medication errors in the pharmacy. During a counseling session, Kai learns that one patient has been taking a diuretic but has not been increasing the amount of potassium in her diet. The patient reports cramping and nausea. Kai realizes that the pharmacy staff stopped using colorful auxiliary labels, assuming that the key counseling points are covered in the multi-page handout that the computer prints with each prescription. Unfortunately, many patients simply throw that multi-page handout into the recycle bin (as did this patient). Kai realizes that using auxiliary labels is an opportunity to improve counseling and to increase the likelihood that patients will take medications correctly.

 

The final step in the prescription process—dispensing the medication to the patient—requires uninterrupted attention to detail. Staff often overlook or rush this step in busy retail pharmacies, especially under pressure from patients who may be in a hurry. Patients who are eager to leave or have pressing time constraints may create an environment where staff feel rushed to complete the transaction quickly, potentially compromising safety. The Joint Commission requires two patient identifiers before dispensing a medication (e.g., full name and date of birth) to prevent mix-ups.²⁶ Failing to confirm the patient’s identity may result in a patient receiving the wrong prescription, leading to serious consequences.

 

While not all patients will ask for counseling, it is the pharmacy staff’s responsibility to offer counseling proactively, especially in critical situations. Pharmacy staff must remain alert to identify potential medication errors and recognize when pharmacist intervention is necessary. Pharmacy technicians are essential to this process. In our hypothetical pharmacy, Ray and Kai realize that the way that they've been dealing with medication errors isn't conducive to ideal teamwork. Further, they realize that they need to engage their technician support team so the pharmacist becomes involved in the process earlier when technicians see red flags.

 

Common errors that require technician awareness and referral to the pharmacist include^2,4,20

• misuse or incorrect administration
• first-time prescriptions, dose changes, or class switches
• high-risk medications or drug interactions
• duplicate therapy or overlapping prescriptions

 

By actively engaging in patient education and ensuring clear communication at the point of dispensing, pharmacy professionals can significantly reduce medication errors and enhance patient safety. A PRO TIP comes from the Indian Health Service where pharmacy staff take a few minutes to remove medication from the bag, read the drug name, open the bottle, shake a few dosage units into the cap, and show it to the patient. Patients may identify medications that look different than they remember, which may signal a change in generic supplier or may identify an error. Although this process sounds time consuming, it actually takes just a few seconds for each bottle, and it prevents adverse outcomes in many cases.

 

Hospital Pharmacy

Hospital pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have serious responsibilities in ensuring safe medication use among high-risk patient populations. Like patients seen in the community, hospitalized patients often have complex conditions, multiple comorbidities, and require high-alert medications. But any event that precipitates hospitalization increases vulnerability to medication-related adverse events.²¹ Learners should note that many of these interventions apply in community centers as well.

 

Similar to retail or clinic pharmacy, miscommunication between prescribers and pharmacy personnel remains a leading cause of medication errors in hospitals. Healthcare providers can reduce errors through effective communication, verification, and collaboration. Regularly confirming prescription details and clarifying discrepancies helps prevent errors before they reach patients. Pharmacy staff need to establish trust and employ open communication with prescribers to ensure patient safety in hospitals. A breakdown in interprofessional relationships can lead to medication errors, such as^18,21

• incorrect medication selection due to misinterpreted verbal or written orders
• dosing errors, particularly in pediatric or renally impaired patients, when key patient information is not communicated
• failure to adjust medications in response to changing renal or hepatic function, leading to toxicity or subtherapeutic dosing
• missed allergy documentation, resulting in patients receiving medications that trigger adverse reactions

By fostering a culture of open dialogue and verification, hospital pharmacy teams can minimize preventable errors and ensure optimal patient care.

 

Consider a hospital pharmacy that employs nine pharmacists on three shifts, with a staffing ratio of one pharmacist to two technicians throughout the entire 24 hours. This pharmacy does a better job of documenting medication errors on unusual incident reports, but considerable room for improvement remains. Lisa is the pharmacist who works closely with the Performance and Quality Improvement (QPI) Department. Her liaison in QPI notifies Lisa that of the 46 medication errors reported in the last quarter, eight were associated with orders from a hospitalist, Dr. Backoff, who rotates shifts. The underlying cause seems to be miscommunication. Dr. Backoff is well known for his offensive behaviors; he humiliates people who ask questions, intimidates coworkers using insults or repeatedly bringing up past errors, excludes staff from opportunities to participate, and is generally so critical that people avoid him.³⁰

 

When staff call Dr. Backoff, he often fails to return the call. Over time, the situation has escalated to the point where staff are afraid to pick up the phone and call him when problems occur. As Lisa works with her QPI liaison, they realize that their workplace has no comprehensive policies and procedures targeting workplace bullying. Without clear guidelines and protocols, people who are targeted by bullies may feel powerless and unwilling to work with their bully.³¹ A PRO TIP is that this organization needs to develop training to address bullying, and Lisa and the QPI liaison need to speak to Dr. Backoff's supervisor immediately. The supervisor can refer Dr. Backoff to employee assistance program or implement corrective and disciplinary action.

 

Certain medications require heightened safety precautions due to their potential for severe patient harm if misused. The ISMP has a list of high-alert medications that require extra safeguards in hospital settings. An example of these are anticoagulants; even small dosing mistakes could lead to severe bleeding or thrombosis (clotting).³² Due to the serious risks associated with high-alert medications, pharmacy staff pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should double-check and arrange independent verification consistently.²¹

 

Medication errors frequently occur during transitions of care, including hospital admission, transfers to other facilities (e.g., long-term care, rehabilitation), and discharge to home. These errors can result in unintentional medication discontinuation, dose and frequency errors, or discharge medication miscommunication, significantly increasing patients’ risk of harm.³³  One of the most significant risks during transitions of care is unintentional medication discontinuation (mistakenly stopping an essential chronic medication). Dose and frequency discrepancies and miscommunications about discharge medications further increase the risk of ADEs post-hospitalization.³⁴

 

To prevent these errors proactively, hospital pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should^21,33

• conduct a thorough medication reconciliation at the time of admission, ensuring all home medications are accurately documented
• maintain clear, updated medication lists through each stage of hospitalization
• collaborate to ensure patients and caregivers receive comprehensive discharge counseling, with the technician reminding or prompting pharmacists if this step is missed, and reinforcing medication changes adherence instructions

 

Lisa’s hospital has a structured transitions of care program. They hire pharmacy students to conduct medication reconciliation under a pharmacist’s supervision. Before pharmacy students can conduct medication reconciliation, they complete a comprehensive training program. Regardless, errors on the medication list still slip through.

 

Lisa's hospital is not alone with this problem. Many hospitals find that errors occur even after medication reconciliation. A 2024 study of the medication reconciliation process and related medication errors indicates that these processes are “very heterogeneous,” meaning that in some areas, medication reconciliation was very good and in others, not so much.³⁵ They found that error rates were unexpectedly high in some areas. This study looked at 929 prescriptions written for 182 patients. In 91% of cases, the reconciler had not specified the drug form. About 72% of medication administration errors pursuant to a faulty medication reconciliation exercise resulted in patients receiving the wrong release dose formulation (i.e., immediate release as opposed to extended release). The researchers indicated that medication error rates did not improve significantly over the period before they conducted routine medication reconciliation.³⁵

 

Lisa has heard coworkers talk about medication reconciliation as a useless process and seeing them roll their eyes when they look at a medication reconciliation report that has obvious errors. In the past, pharmacy staff did not consider a mistake on a medication reconciliation list to be a medication error. However, when a serious error slips through, Lisa’s QPI liaison suggests that they began tracking such errors on unusual incident reports. A PRO TIP here is to track errors in medication reconciliation and try to identify the areas where errors are most likely to occur in the medication reconciliation process. At this hospital, Lisa and the QPI liaison were able to confirm that they also had a problem with identification of the correct formulation. Over the following months, they were able to improve by using additional training and revising their medication reconciliation form to force technicians to ask about the formulation or to see the bottle.

 

PAUSE AND PONDER: Can you think of any processes or policies in your workplace that can be improved to enhance patient safety?

 

Pharmacist and Technician Responsibilities

Pharmacy professionals have a responsibility to actively communicate with their colleagues and other healthcare providers to prevent errors. Effective collaboration within the healthcare team ensures safe medication practices by¹⁸

• clarifying unclear or incomplete prescriptions before dispensing
• confirming appropriate dosing adjustments for renal or hepatic impairment
• coordinating medication reconciliation during transitions of care to prevent omissions or duplications

 

Management needs to empower pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to voice concerns regarding potential medication errors. Addressing these concerns professionally and respectfully fosters a culture of teamwork and patient safety.

 

A key responsibility of pharmacy professionals is to provide clear, understandable medication counseling to patients. However, it is unrealistic to expect that staff can counsel all patients on every detail of their prescription. Instead, pharmacists should prioritize the most critical points, especially on new prescriptions, including³⁶

• dosing instructions and adherence importance
• common and serious adverse effects
• drug interactions and contraindications
• proper storage and administration techniques

 

One effective counseling strategy is the teach-back method, where patients repeat the pharmacist’s instructions back in their own words. This ensures patients fully understand how to use their medication correctly. For example, when dispensing doxycycline, instead of simply stating “Take this with a full glass of water,” a pharmacist using the teach-back method would ask one simple question after explaining how to take the doxycycline: “Can you explain to me how you will take this medication to avoid stomach irritation? I need to be sure I covered everything.”^18,21,26 

 

When a serious medication error occurs, it is crucial to investigate the underlying causes to prevent future occurrences. Root-cause analysis (RCA) is a structured problem-solving method used to analyze errors after they have happened—including what, how, and why it happened—and can help determine what lessons could be learned and how to reduce the risk of recurrence and make care safer.^3,21 For example, if a retail pharmacy dispenses the wrong insulin type and a patient is subsequently hospitalized, an RCA might reveal that the error stemmed from look-alike packaging and a lack of independent verification.

 

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a proactive approach to medication safety, identifying potential failures before they occur. By evaluating processes and pinpointing high-risk areas, institutions can implement safeguards to prevent errors before they reach patients.²¹ For instance, before introducing a new automated dispensing cabinet, an FMEA could help identify potential failure points, such as medication selection due to user interface design, allowing for preventive modifications.

 

CONCLUSION

Patient safety is a fundamental pillar in pharmacy practice, and reducing medication errors requires a proactive, systematic approach. Errors can occur at any stage of the medication use process, from receiving and interpreting prescriptions to dispensing and patient counseling. Recognizing common errors—such as abbreviations, LASA drugs, incorrect dosing, and transcription mistakes—helps pharmacy professionals to implement safeguards that prevent harm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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