001). Significant differences were detected between the mean values reported by GPs and pharmacists (p = 0.012) and GPs and paediatric consultants (p = 0.006). The age at which GPs first use tablets was higher than that reported by pharmacists and paediatric consultants. The age at which tablets were considered to be appropriate for
use in children was lower amongst the specialist healthcare this website professionals (paediatric: consultants, pharmacists and nurses) compared to GPs. There is an educational need for GPs to understand the cost and practical implications associated with liquid formulations where tablets may be an acceptable and readily available alternative. Communication between specialist paediatric healthcare professionals and those in primary care settings needs to be optimised regarding the use of tablet formulations in younger children. Further research regarding acceptability of tablets versus age is required; including collection of data from young people and their parents. Potential benefits of this include improved acceptability and convenience for parents/carers/patients and also
a reduction in expenditure on paediatric medicines and drug wastage. Christopher Acomb1, Una Laverty1, Heather Smith1, Gill Fox1, Duncan Petty2 1Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Leeds, UK, 2University of Leeds, Leeds, UK The Integrated Medicines oPtimisAtion on Care Transfer (IMPACT) project aimed to: ∘ improve pharmaceutical care on discharge Older people are at increased risk of medicines-related problems including medicines-related admissions to hospital. One www.selleckchem.com/products/gsk1120212-jtp-74057.html study showed that medicines-related admissions account for 6.5%1 of admissions to hospital but this could be as high as 30% in older people2. The IMPACT project was
set up as a service development project to look at the feasibility also of providing medicines optimisation on discharge for acutely admitted older patients assessed as needing post discharge support. Patients admitted to the older people admission wards at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) were assessed by clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to determine if they had a medicines related need post-discharge. Where a need was identified, an MCP was added to the patient’s discharge communication. Patients were signposted to healthcare professionals in primary care for follow-up action where appropriate. These included community pharmacists, practice pharmacists, GPs, district nurses, practice nurses and community matrons. Examples of signposting included referrals to community pharmacists for the new medicine service and post-discharge medicine use reviews, to practice pharmacists for clinical medication reviews and to practice nurses for review of inhaler technique. Where there was no obvious person in primary care to refer to, they were followed up by hospital based pharmacy technicians either by telephone or a domiciliary visit.