METHODS: A review and comparison of mHealth apps for caring of older people available in Google's Play Store (Android system) and Apple's App Store (iOS system) were performed. Systematic review of previous relevant literature were conducted. The assessment criteria used for comparison were requirement for Internet connection, information of disease, size of app, diagnostics and assessment tools, medical calculator, dosage recommendations and indications, clinical updates, drugs interaction checker, and information on disease management.
RESULTS: Twenty-five mHealth apps were assessed. Medscape and Skyscape Medical Library are the most comprehensive mHealth apps for general drug information, medical references, clinical score, and medical calculator. Alzheimer's Disease Pocketcard and Confusion: Delirium & Dementia: A Bedside Guide apps are recommended for clinical assessment, diagnosis, drug information, and management of geriatric patients with Alzheimer disease, delirium, and dementia.
CONCLUSIONS: More studies about mHealth apps for caring of older people are warranted to ensure the quality and reliability of the mHealth apps.
OBJECTIVES: This study aims to identify the prevalence and nature of pre-admission inappropriate prescribing by using the STOPP (screening tool of older people's prescriptions) criteria amongst a sample of hospitalised elderly inpatients in South Australia.
SETTING: Medical, surgical and rehabilitation wards of a public teaching hospital in Adelaide, South Australia.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Pre-admission prevalence of PIM.
METHOD: Medication management plans of 100 patients of ≥65 years old were prospectively studied to determine the prevalence of pre-admission PIM use. Sixty-five criteria of STOPP were applied to identify PIMs.
RESULTS: The total number of pre-admission medications screened during the study period was 949; the median number of medicines per patient was nine (range 2-28). Overall the STOPP criteria identified 138 PIMs in 60 % of patients. The most frequently encountered PIM was opiates prescribed in patients with recurrent falls (12.3 %), followed by benzodiazepines in fallers (10.1 %) and proton pump inhibitors when prescribed for peptic ulcer disease for long-term at maximum doses (9.4 %). The number of medications were found to have a positive correlation with pre-admission PIM use (r(s) = 0.49, P < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Pre-admission PIM use is highly prevalent among the studied population. Strategies to reduce PIM use should be undertaken by physicians and pharmacists. The use of the STOPP criteria in clinical practice to reduce prescriptions of inappropriate medications requires further investigation.
METHODS: The implementation stage of Malaysia's first three GeKo- ISD clinics was assessed using the WHO-ICOPE (Integrated Care of the Older Persons) scorecard. This involved evaluating documents related to the GeKo services and conducting in-depth interviews with key informants identified from those documents. The efficacy of GeKo-ISD was assessed by documenting the change in mean frailty scores between baseline and 3 months post intervention, measured by the Pictorial Fit Frail Scale Malay Version (PFFS-M), in patients who received GeKo-ISD care from October 2022 to April 2023.
RESULTS: All three GeKo clinics achieved the sustaining implementation level, scoring a total of 50 out of 52. The paired t-test reported a significant reduction (p= 0.001) in the PFFS-M scores from baseline to 3 months after the GeKo-ISD intervention. The mean (SD) scores were 8.6 (4.6) at baseline and 7.0 (4.1) at 3 months post-intervention.
CONCLUSION: GeKo-ISD is a comprehensive approach of integrated care for older people, leveraging existing public funded primary care infrastructure. It shows promise, was impacted by the pandemic but now, with support from the government, exists in 32 centers across one state in Malaysia.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review methodology framework will guide the conduct of this scoping review. The search strategy will involve electronic databases including PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and ScienceDirect, in addition to grey literature sources and hand-searching of reference lists. Two reviewers will independently screen all abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. Data will be charted and sorted through an iterative process by the research team. The extracted data will undergo a descriptive analysis and simple quantitative analysis will be conducted using descriptive statistics. Engagement with relevant stakeholders will be carried out to gain more insights into our data from different perspectives.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Since the data used are from publicly available sources, this study does not require ethical approval. Results will be disseminated through academic journals, conferences and seminars. We anticipate that our findings will aid technology developers and health professionals working in the area of ageing and rehabilitation.