Variations in drug-related problems detected by multidisciplinary teams in Norwegian nursing homes and home nursing care

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample.

Characteristics	Total sample	Nursing home	Home nursing care	P-value
	N = 154	n = 61	n = 93
Age, median (IQR)	87.0 (9.0)	86.0 (8.0)	87.0 (11.0)	0.813^a
Male, n (%)	47 (30.5)	17 (27.9)	30 (32.3)	0.563^b
Urban, n (%)	50 (32.5)	5 (8.2)	45 (48.4)	0.000^b
Number of regular drugs, median (IQR)	8.0 (5.0)	8.0 (4.0)	9.0 (5.0)	0.308^a

^a Mann–Whitney U

^b Chi-square test.

Table 2. Identified and classified DRPs in nursing homes and home nursing care, per patient.

DRP Category	Total sample (N = 154)				Nursing home (n = 61)				Home nursing care (n = 93)				P-value^a
	Count	Mean	Median	IQR	Count	Mean	Median	IQR	Count	Mean	Median	IQR
Total number of DRP	740	4.8	4.0	4.0	227	3.7	3.0	3.0	513	5.5	4.0	4.0	0.002
Drug choice
Need for additional drug	83	0.54	0.0	1.0	49	0.80	0.0	2.0	34	0.37	0.0	1.0	0.001
Unnecessary drug	132	0.86	1.0	1.0	63	1.03	1.0	2.0	69	0.74	0.0	1.0	0.109
Inappropriate drug choice	76	0.49	0.0	1.0	22	0.36	0.0	0.5	54	0.58	0.0	1.0	0.242
Dosing
Too high dose	63	0.41	0.0	1.0	19	0.31	0.0	0.0	44	0.47	0.0	1.0	0.151
Too low dose	19	0.12	0.0	0.0	6	0.10	0.0	0.0	13	0.14	0.0	0.0	0.500
Sub-optimal dosing scheme	11	0.07	0.0	0.0	5	0.08	0.0	0.0	6	0.06	0.0	0.0	0.710
Sub-optimal formulation	18	0.12	0.0	0.0	11	0.18	0.0	0.0	7	0.08	0.0	0.0	0.280
Adverse reactions	33	0.21	0.0	0.0	8	0.13	0.0	0.0	25	0.27	0.0	0.5	0.060
Interactions	50	0.32	0.0	0.0	17	0.28	0.0	0.0	33	0.35	0.0	0.5	0.520
Drug use
Inappropriate use by health personal	3	0.02	0.0	0.0	0	–	–	–	3	0.02	0.0	0.0	0.158^b
Inappropriate use by patient	1	0.01	0.0	0.0	1	0.01	0.0	0.0	0	–	–	–	0.217^b
Other
Monitoring required	37	0.24	0.0	0.0	13	0.21	0.0	0.0	24	0.26	0.0	0.0	0.650
Unclear documentation	209	1.36	0.0	1.0	9	0.15	0.0	0.0	200	2.15	1.0	2.5	0.000
Not classified/complex problem	5	0.03	0.0	0.0	4	0.07	0.0	0.0	1	0.01	0.0	0.0	0.061^b

^a Student’s t-test for Mean

^b Mann-Whitney U test for Median; IQR: Interquartile range

Table 3. Proportions of accepted DRPs in nursing homes and home nursing care.

DRP Category	Total sample			Nursing home			Home nursing care
	Detected Count	Accepted		Detected Count	Accepted		Detected Count	Accepted
		%	95% CI		(%)	95% CI		(%)	95% CI
All categories	740	70.0	66.7–73.3	227	71.8	66.0–77.6	513	69.2	65.2–73.2
Drug choice
Need for additional drug	83	77.1	68.1–86.1	49	79.6	68.3–90.9	34	73.5	58.7–88.3
Unnecessary drug	132	73.5	65.0–81.0	63	76.2	65.7–86.7	69	71.0	60.3–81.7
Inappropriate drug choice	76	50.0	38.8–61.2	22	50.0	29.1–70.9	54	50.0	36.7–63.3
Dosing
Too high dose	63	66.7	55.0–78.3	19	73.7	53.9–93.5	44	63.6	49.4–77.8
Too low dose	19	78.9	60.6–99.3	6	100	–	13	69.2	44.2–94.3
Sub-optimal dosing scheme	11	100	–	5	100	–	6	100	–
Sub-optimal formulation	18	55.6	32.6–78.5	11	45.5	16.0–78.9	7	71.4	38.0–104.9
Adverse reaction	33	42.4	25.6–59.3	8	75.0	45.0–105.0	25	32.0	13.7–48.3
Interaction	50	60.0	46.4–73.6	17	82.4	64.2–100.5	33	48.4	31.4–65.5
Drug use
Inappropriate use by health personal	3	100	–	–	–	–	3	100	–
Inappropriate use by patient	1	100	–	1	100	–	–	–	–
Other
Monitoring required	37	56.8	40.8–97.5	13	69.2	44.2–94.3	24	50.0	30.0–70.0
Unclear documentation	209	80.9	75.5–86.2	9	33.3	2.5–64.1	200	83.0	77.8–88.2
Not classified/complex problem	5	80.0	44.9-115.1	4	75.0	32.6–117.4	1	100	–

CI = Confidence Interval.

Figure 1. Proportions of accepted DRPs (%). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.