In 2015, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) updated the Beers Criteria list of potentially inappropriate medications to be monitored or avoided when treating older adults.
The goal of the Beers Criteria is to improve the care of older adults by reducing their exposure to potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). This is accomplished by using the criteria as an educational tool and quality measure. According to the AGS, two uses that are not always in agreement.
Prescribing decisions are not always clear-cut, and clinicians must consider multiple factors, including discontinuation of medications no longer indicated.
The AGS Beers Criteria for PIM use in older adults is one of the most frequently consulted sources about the safety of prescribing medications for older adults and is used widely in geriatric clinical care, education, and research and in development of quality indicators.
The Beers list is important to help with deprescribing medications that are unnecessary, which helps to reduce the problems of polypharmacy, drug interactions, and adverse drug reactions, improving the risk–benefit ratio of medication regimens in older at-risk adults.
Pharmacogenetics is a tool being used in LTC communities, clinics and pharmacies across the country to help with proper prescribing in older adults. The PGx Medical test results highlight medications on the Beers report making it easy for providers to quickly determine which medications might be inappropriate for each individual person.
For more information on pharmacogenetics, contact:
PGx Medical
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112.