Abstract
Introduction
We conducted a survey to determine the effectiveness of measures taken by pharmacists in psychiatric hospitals to improve polypharmacy among patients with psychiatric disorders.
Methods
Among patients admitted to the emergency department of the Ibaraki Prefectural Medical Center of Psychiatry, those with polypharmacy who used more than six oral medications continuously for more than 4 weeks were included.
Results
The intervention group, in which pharmacists provided polypharmacy interventions, showed a significant decrease in the number of drugs taken at discharge compared to at admission (9.8 ± 3.2 vs 7.9 ± 3.3 drugs; P < .01). The drugs that were reduced in dosage included sleeping pills, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, and antiparkinsonian drugs, which are mainly used in psychiatric drug therapy, as well as drugs used for symptomatic treatment of side effects and other problems. A reduction in drug costs of 44.7 yen (JPY)/day was also observed in the intervention group, whereas an increase of 22.2 yen/day was observed in the non-intervention group (P < .05).
Discussion
This survey allowed us to determine, for the first time, the types of drugs and trends in medication use that were discontinued owing to polypharmacy measures in psychiatric specialty hospitals.
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