Abstract
Objective
To evaluate whether a safe medication strategy compared with usual care, provided to people with dementia during an unplanned admission, reduces readmissions to hospital and re‐presentation to emergency departments within three months.
Methods
A prospective, controlled pre‐/post‐trial conducted at two regional hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.
Results
No treatment effect was seen for time to first re‐presentation or readmission within three months (P = .3). Compliance with six strategies applicable for all participants in the intervention phase was 58%. There was no treatment effect for secondary outcomes including dose administration aid use, home medicines review (HMR) requests by general practitioners and completed HMRs; however, they were significantly higher at the intervention site in both phases.
Conclusion
A bundle of care to improve medication safety in people with dementia did not reduce re‐presentations or readmissions within three months.