TY - JOUR
T1 - Effectiveness of interventions aiming to reduce inappropriate drug prescribing
T2 - An overview of interventions
AU - Kroon, Danielle
AU - Steutel, Nina F.
AU - Vermeulen, Hester
AU - Tabbers, Merit M.
AU - Benninga, Marc A.
AU - Langendam, Miranda W.
AU - van Dulmen, Simone A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
PY - 2021/9/1
Y1 - 2021/9/1
N2 - Objective: Inappropriate prescribing of drugs is associated with unnecessary harms for patients and healthcare costs. Interventions to reduce these prescriptions are widely studied, yet the effectiveness of different types of interventions remains unclear. Therefore, we provide an overview regarding the effectiveness of intervention types that aim to reduce inappropriate drug prescriptions, unrestricted by target drugs, population or setting. Methods: For this overview, systematic reviews (SRs) were used as the source for original studies. EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched from inception to August 2018. All SRs aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce inappropriate prescribing of drugs were eligible for inclusion. The SRs and their original studies were screened for eligibility. Interventions of the original studies were categorized by type of intervention. The percentage of interventions showing a significant reduction of inappropriate prescribing were reported per intervention category. Key findings: Thirty-two SRs were included, which provided 319 unique interventions. Overall, 61.4% of these interventions showed a significant reduction in inappropriate prescribing of drugs. Strategies that were most frequently effective in reducing inappropriate prescribing were multifaceted interventions (73.2%), followed by interventions containing additional diagnostic tests (antibiotics) (70.4%), computer interventions (69.2%), audit and feedback (66.7%), patient-mediated interventions (62.5%) and multidisciplinary (team) approach (57.1%). The least frequently effective intervention was an education for healthcare professionals (50.0%). Conclusion: The majority of the interventions were effective in reducing inappropriate prescribing of drugs. Multifaceted interventions most frequently showed a significant reduction of inappropriate prescribing. Education for healthcare professionals is the most frequently included intervention in this overview, yet this category is least frequently effective.
AB - Objective: Inappropriate prescribing of drugs is associated with unnecessary harms for patients and healthcare costs. Interventions to reduce these prescriptions are widely studied, yet the effectiveness of different types of interventions remains unclear. Therefore, we provide an overview regarding the effectiveness of intervention types that aim to reduce inappropriate drug prescriptions, unrestricted by target drugs, population or setting. Methods: For this overview, systematic reviews (SRs) were used as the source for original studies. EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched from inception to August 2018. All SRs aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce inappropriate prescribing of drugs were eligible for inclusion. The SRs and their original studies were screened for eligibility. Interventions of the original studies were categorized by type of intervention. The percentage of interventions showing a significant reduction of inappropriate prescribing were reported per intervention category. Key findings: Thirty-two SRs were included, which provided 319 unique interventions. Overall, 61.4% of these interventions showed a significant reduction in inappropriate prescribing of drugs. Strategies that were most frequently effective in reducing inappropriate prescribing were multifaceted interventions (73.2%), followed by interventions containing additional diagnostic tests (antibiotics) (70.4%), computer interventions (69.2%), audit and feedback (66.7%), patient-mediated interventions (62.5%) and multidisciplinary (team) approach (57.1%). The least frequently effective intervention was an education for healthcare professionals (50.0%). Conclusion: The majority of the interventions were effective in reducing inappropriate prescribing of drugs. Multifaceted interventions most frequently showed a significant reduction of inappropriate prescribing. Education for healthcare professionals is the most frequently included intervention in this overview, yet this category is least frequently effective.
KW - effectiveness
KW - inappropriate prescribing
KW - interventions
KW - strategies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116841357&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jphsr/rmab038
DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/jphsr/rmab038
M3 - Review article
SN - 1759-8885
VL - 12
SP - 423
EP - 433
JO - Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research
JF - Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research
IS - 3
ER -