Background/Objectives Federally‐mandated consultant pharmacist‐conducted retrospective medication regimen reviews (MRRs) are designed to improve medication safety in nursing homes (NH). However, MRRs are potentially ineffective. A new model of care that improves access to and efficiency of consultant pharmacists is needed. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of pharmacist‐led telemedicine services on reducing high‐risk medication adverse drug events (ADEs) for NH residents using medication reconciliation and prospective MRR on admission plus ongoing clinical decision support alerts throughout the residents’ stay. Design Quality improvement study using a stepped‐wedge design comparing the novel service to usual care in a one‐year evaluation from November 2016 to October 2017. Setting Four NHs (two urban, two suburban) in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Participants All residents in the four NHs were screened. There were 2,127 residents admitted having 652 alerts in the active period. Intervention Upon admission, pharmacists conducted medication reconciliation and prospective MRR for residents and also used telemedicine for communication with cognitively‐intact residents. Post‐admission, pharmacists received clinical decision support alerts to conduct targeted concurrent MRRs and telemedicine. Measurement Main outcome was incidence of high‐risk medication, alert‐specific ADEs. Secondary outcomes included all‐cause hospitalization, 30‐day readmission rates, and consultant pharmacists' recommendations. Results Consultant pharmacists provided 769 recommendations. The intervention group had a 92% lower incidence of alert‐specific ADEs than usual care (9 vs 31; 0.14 vs 0.61/1,000‐resident‐days; adjusted incident rate ratio (AIRR) = 0.08 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.01–0.40]; P = .002). All‐cause hospitalization was similar between groups (149 vs 138; 2.33 vs 2.70/1,000‐resident‐days; AIRR = 1.06 (95% CI = 0.72–1.58); P = .75), as were 30‐day readmissions (110 vs 102; 1.72 vs 2.00/1,000‐resident‐days; AIRR = 1.21 (95% CI = 0.76–1.93); P = .42). Conclusions This is the first evaluation of the impact of pharmacist‐led patient‐centered telemedicine services to manage high‐risk medications during transitional care and throughout the resident's NH stay, supporting a new model of patient care.

OBJECTIVE To conduct a systematic literature review to determine what telemedicine services are provided by pharmacists and the impact of these services in the nursing facility setting. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE®, Scopus®, and Embase® databases. STUDY SELECTION The terms “telemedicine” or “telehealth” were combined by “and” with the terms “pharmacist” or “pharmacy” to identify pharmacists’ use of telemedicine. Also, “telepharmacy” was added as a search term. The initial search yielded 322 results. These abstracts were reviewed by two individuals independently, for selection of articles that discussed telemedicine and involvement of a pharmacist, either as the primary user of the service or as part of an interprofessional health care team. Those abstracts discussing the pharmacist service for purpose of dispensing or product preparation were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION A description of pharmacists’ services provided and the impact on resident care. DATA SYNTHESIS Only three manuscripts met inclusion criteria. One was a narrative proposition of the benefits of using telemedicine by senior care pharmacists. Two published original research studies indirectly assessed the pharmacists’ use of telemedicine in the nursing facility through an anticoagulation program and an osteoporosis management service. Both services demonstrated improvement in patient care. CONCLUSION There is a general paucity of practice-related research to demonstrate potential benefits of pharmacists’ services incorporating telemedicine. Telemedicine may be a resource-efficient approach to enhance pharmacist services in the nursing facility and improve resident care.

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Objective Although acute kidney injury (AKI) is well-studied in the acute care setting, investigation of AKI in the nursing home (NH) setting is virtually nonexistent. The goal of this study was to determine the incidence of drug-associated AKI using the RIFLE (Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss of kidney function or End-Stage kidney disease) criteria in NH residents. Design/Setting/Participants/Measurements We conducted a retrospective study between February 9, 2012 and February 8, 2013 for all residents at four UPMC NHs located in Southwest Pennsylvania. The TheraDoc™ Clinical Surveillance System, which monitors laboratory and medication data and fires alerts when patients have a sufficient increase in serum creatinine, was used for automated case detection. An increase in serum creatinine in the presence of an active medication order identified to potentially cause AKI triggered an alert, and drug-associated AKI was staged according to the RIFLE criteria. Data were analyzed by frequency and distribution of alert type by risk, injury, and failure. Results Of the 249 residents who had a drug-associated AKI alert fire, 170 (68.3%) were female, and the mean age was 74.2 years. Using the total number of alerts (n=668), the rate of drug-associated AKI was 0.35 events per 100 resident-months. Based on the RIFLE criteria, there were 191, 70, and 44 residents who were classified as AKI risk, injury, and failure, respectively. The most common medication classes included in the AKI alerts were diuretics, ACEIs/ARBs, and antibiotics. Conclusion Drug-associated AKI was a common cause of potential adverse drug events. The vast majority of the cases were related to the use of diuretics, ACEIs/ARBs and antibiotics. Future studies are needed to better understand patient, provider and facility risk factors as well as strategies to enhance the detection and management of drug-associated AKI in the NH.