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A new has highlighted the need for pharmacists with specific geriatric medicine expertise to work as part of interdisciplinary teams to improve the safety and quality of care for older Australians in hospitals, residential aged-care facilities and in the community.

Developed by the (SHPA) 鈥� with input from the (ANZSGM) 鈥� the standards include the four central pillars of optimal geriatric pharmacy care: avoiding and reducing inappropriate polypharmacy; preventing adverse drug reactions; ensuring safe medicine administration; and continuity of medication management during care transitions.

Standard lead author and immediate past Chair of SHPA鈥檚 Geriatric Medicine Leadership Committee Dr Rohan Elliott said evidence from randomised controlled trials tells us clinical pharmacy services improve medication management and safety for older people in all care settings and during transitions of care.

鈥淐omprehensive, patient-centred medication reviews and assessment of patients鈥� medication management are essential roles for geriatric medicine pharmacists.

鈥淚n this area, deprescribing has become a major focus. Along with medication regimen simplification, deprescribing can improve medicines adherence and reduce treatment burden for older people and their carers, ultimately improving comfort and quality of life among this vulnerable cohort.鈥�

SHPA Chief Executive Kristin Michaels said the standard of practice forms part of SHPA鈥檚 concerted response to a crisis in medication safety in older Australians.

鈥淭he high prevalence of polypharmacy in older people is an urgent concern; more than 50% of adult hospital bed-days in Australia are occupied by people aged 65 years and over, and more than 50% of medicines dispensed under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme are used to care for Australians in this age bracket.

鈥淭his key document builds on our response to November鈥檚 Royal Commission interim report 鈥� which highlighted an urgent need to increase funding for medication management programs in residential aged care 鈥� and comes as we work to harness our members鈥� expertise in contributing to the goals of medicines safety as a national health priority area,鈥� she said.

鈥淚n addition to the core goals of a geriatric medicine pharmacy service highlighted in this standard, on behalf of members, SHPA reiterates its call for specialty geriatric pharmacist roles to be embedded in residential and community aged care, as these experts are best equipped to identify and manage medication-related issues and reduce harm, while ensuring identification of deprescribing opportunities and high-quality clinical handover as patients move between care settings.

鈥淚n particular, such pharmacists are uniquely positioned to determine if antipsychotic medicine prescribing is appropriate, an area in which we are failing older Australians, as revealed by the Royal Commission鈥檚 damning interim findings.鈥�

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