Supporting better medicines use among people living with dementia using national consensus Support – MEDe Support

Year: July 1, 2016

Partners University of Western Australia

Program Overview:

People living with dementia often live with other chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or osteoporosis. They may experience symptoms of depression or pain. However, people living with dementia are rarely included in medication trials as they often cannot give informed consent. This means that we base medication use for these people on evidence gathered in other populations. It is not clear how well this evidence applies to people living with dementia. It is not established if the presence of dementia should alter prescribing. It is not clear if dementia itself alters the response to or benefit from medications.

Our research group has developed existing PIP-D statements to optimize medication use in people living with dementia. This tool was developed based on the consensus of an interdisciplinary panel of 57 experts from around Australia. It is intended to support appropriate prescribing for people living with dementia

This PIP-D statements now need to be developed, optimized and tested for clinical application. The first phase is to develop and refine the PIP-D statements in to a clinically useful prescribing decision aid (the MEDe Support Criteria). To do this, we will hold focus groups with key stakeholders (including consumers) to draw upon their attitudes, feelings and reactions to the MEDe Support criteria. The key stakeholders are consumers (people living with dementia and their carers) and health professionals (doctors, nurses, and pharmacists). We will use their feedback to refine the wording, length, and format of MEDe Support Criteria. The results from this phase will ensure that the MEDe Support criteria are acceptable and perceived as useful to apply in practice.

The second phase is to apply the MEDe Support criteria to assess feasibility. We will recruit pharmacists and doctors to undertake medication reviews with people living with dementia. MEDe Support Criteria will be applied to determine its usefulness in a practical setting.

Successful DCRC grant recipient 2016

Other team members:
Prof Rhonda Clifford, University of Western Australia;
Prof Andrew McLachlan, University of Sydney;
Dr Cristin Ryan, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland;
Amy le Cras, The Bethanie Group.