Spread and Scale of a Polypharmacy App

Medication overload is an epidemic causing widespread harm, particularly to older Canadians. While most prescriptions are intended to help people live longer and healthier lives, taking multiple medications can increase frailty, and lead to dangerous side effects. As people age, the way medicines work may change and certain medicines are more likely cause problems with memory, thinking and balance. To minimize these risks, it is important to regularly review all medicines an older adult is taking. A medication review can be complicated, and it takes time. MedSafer is a computer program that helps physicians and pharmacists identify medicines that may no longer be needed or are dangerous. The software runs an analysis of a person's medications and medical conditions and produces a report with suggestions for how to simplify combinations of medications and make them safer. The process of safely reducing medications is called deprescribing. A computer application powered by MedSafer was built for nursing homes. This Polypharmacy App was piloted at a large urban nursing home. Initial impression of the system was positive. Improvements were made and it was rebranded as MedReviewRx. The current study will test MedReviewRx in other nursing homes in New Brunswick. MedReviewRx allows health care providers (prescribers, pharmacists and nurses) in nursing homes to access MedSafer analysis on a tablet or laptop. The investigators expect that access to this information will promote deprescribing in nursing homes, reduce potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and result in cost savings.

This study is a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation design for quality improvement research that will make use of mixed methods of evaluation. Implementation consists of using MedReviewRx. Effectiveness analysis consists of measuring the impact of the MedReviewRx on PIMs. Exploratory surveys (the mixed methods component of the study) which look at qualitative and quantitative user feedback and patient and caregiver attitudes about deprescribing will be used to explain study findings. Informal feedback, surveys and semi-structured interviews will be used to examine user experience with MedReviewRx. The Revised Patient Attitude Towards Deprescribing (rPATD) questionnaire "older adult" version for the patients and a "caregiver" version for family members/substitute decision makers will be used to describe patient and family member attitudes about deprescribing medications.

Estimated study duration is 18 months. Deployment will approximate a Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomized Trial Design (SW-CRT). This type of study design allows us to approximate a randomized clinical trial. It has many advantages and is considered the most robust type of study design for a pragmatic quality improvement intervention. All clusters act as an internal control (before and after) as well as a control for the other clusters (external control). This novel study design addresses issues with seasonality and allows all clusters to participate in the intervention, which is an advantage when the intervention is related to quality improvement. It also allows us to measure for within and between cluster comparisons. Moreover, stepped-wedge trials are claimed by many researchers to have a statistical advantage over parallel cluster randomized trials. In the same direction, more researchers state that on one hand, for cluster randomized trials (CRTs), the stepped wedge design is far more efficient than the parallel group and ANCOVA design in terms of sample size. On the other hand, these researchers also state that the stepped wedge design requires a substantially smaller sample size than a parallel group and ANCOVA design.

The study will have three clusters with a combined total of approximately 750 nursing home beds. Nursing home resident turnover rates may be as high as 30% per year therefore the researchers anticipate that up to 1000 residents will be screened by MedSafer at least once and 300 of them, or more, will have a potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) identified. A random generator was used to place participating nursing homes into the following three clusters:

Cluster 1: 3 months control + 9 months intervention

Cluster 2: 6 months control + 6 months intervention

Cluster 3: 9 months control + 3 months intervention

As illustrated, the study will begin with a minimum three-month control phase. During the control phase, MedReviewRx will not be accessible to health care professionals at the nursing homes. This serves to obtain baseline deprescribing levels for each nursing home. Every three to four months thereafter, a cluster of nursing homes will enter intervention mode.

During the control phase, nursing home residents and their families or substitute decision makers will be recruited to complete a survey to explore patient attitudes about deprescribing in this NB study population. The rPATD questionnaire "older adult" version will be provided to nursing home residents and the "caregiver" version will be provided to family members and substitute decision makers. Survey questions will be entered in Lime survey to promote electronic completion whenever possible. A recruitment poster will be displayed at study sites and a recruitment communication will be sent to family members and substitute decision makers identified in the resident's admission package. Paper copies will also be available from the study site contact. Residents and family members who ask nursing home staff about the survey will have their contact information forwarded to the Centre for Innovation and Research in Aging (CIRA) research manager to answer questions and obtain verbal consent to have a survey e-mailed to them. If e-mail is not available, a research assistant will contact the participant to administer the survey over the phone. Study site contacts may also distribute paper copies of the surveys if requested and permitted by the study site. Stamped envelopes addressed to the CIRA research manager will be provided with each paper survey distributed.

Also during the control phase, health care providers and study site staff will be recruited to register for MedReviewRx. A recruitment communication will be sent by e-mail and placed in study site mailboxes. Study recruitment will also be encouraged at interdisciplinary nursing home meetings such as Pharmacy and Therapeutics and Medical Advisory Committee meetings. User training will be provided by the study site contact or designate(s) as determined by the site-specific implementation plan. Nursing home site contacts will participate in an interview to evaluate MedReviewRx implementation. Implementation interviews will be conducted within the first 3 months of the site intervention phase videoconference by the CIRA research manager or designate via telephone or Zoom.

During the intervention phase, MedReviewRx will be made available to nursing homes with the understanding that it will be used to facilitate medication reviews and prescription check-ups. MedReviewRx provides clinicians with access to individualized and prioritized deprescribing information from MedSafer which: a) identifies PIMs, b) explains why the medication is potentially inappropriate and c) provides instructions on how to safely stop/taper the medication. Nursing homes will also have the option to print MedSafer deprescribing reports from MedReviewRx for clinicians who do not have computer access or who choose not to register to use MedReviewRx. If reports are printed, they will be placed in a binder for the prescriber to sign and date indicating that they have read the report. Prescribers and nursing home staff will be encouraged to write feedback directly on the report if they wish too. To assess the proportion of reports that were read, and feedback provided on the reports, signed reports will be kept in a locked cabinet for research assistants to collect.

Clinicians will review deprescribing opportunities (electronically or via a paper report) and determine if medications can be tapered or stopped. Medication changes are discussed with the resident or substitute decision maker as part of usual care. This process will not change with the implementation of MedReviewRx. If the prescriber decides to alter a medication based on the deprescribing opportunities provided by MedSafer and their expert knowledge, the prescriber will do so in the same manner as they did prior to implementation of MedReviewRx, and discussion with the resident and/or substitute decision maker will occur according to the process in place at each nursing home. During the intervention phase, an analysis of deprescribing opportunities will be conducted by MedSafer once every 3 months for each resident in the nursing home. Results will be stored in the MedReviewRx system to be accessed at any time.

User feedback on MedReviewRx and MedSafer deprescribing information will be solicited from prescribers, pharmacists and nursing home staff throughout the study using surveys. Surveys may be completed via Lime Survey, on paper or by telephone (depending on the preference of the person). Three surveys will be distributed by e-mail to registered MedReviewRx users as well as other study site prescribers, pharmacists and nurses who may have access to printed reports from MedReviewRx. A MedReviewRx user feedback survey will be distributed at the end of the first and third quarter of the intervention and an acceptability and feasibility survey will be distributed at the end of the study. Informal feedback received by e-mail from users will be reviewed and actioned by the CIRA research manager or designate. E-mail feedback will be documented anonymously in an excel spreadsheet and reported to the study principle investigators within 1 week of receipt to determine if tasks need to be submitted to the technical team for software updates. Rapid cycle improvements in usability of the system and MedSafer output will be made based on survey results and informal feedback.

Informal feedback written on printed MedSafer reports will be documented in an excel spreadsheet and included in the analysis of qualitative feedback provided by survey and interview. Frequency of MedReviewRx use will be measured electronically by counting the number of times a user accesses their account. Overall experience with the research project will be evaluated using semi-structured interview conducted at the end of the intervention period.