Reducing Psychotropic Use in Older Non-demented Spanish Care Home Residents: a Before-After Comparison of Three Methods

Recognizing that Spain has the highest rate of antipsychotic prescribing in Western Europe,^{1 (opens in new tab)} the Spanish Geriatrics and Gerontology Society has encouraged reducing psychotropic medication use in long-term settings.^{2 (opens in new tab)} In a quality improvement effort designed to do that, we found that administration of any of 3 interventions—application of STOPP/START criteria, medication-focused team rounds (TR), or a decision aid (DA)—effectively reduced psychotropic use among older Spanish nursing home residents with dementia, though STOPP/START criteria application was most effective.^{3 (opens in new tab)}

While care home residents with dementia are at risk for psychotropic overuse and their sequelae, so might be those without dementia.^{4 (opens in new tab)} Therefore, we sought to analyze patients without dementia who obtained any of the 3 interventions we studied in Sanitas Mayores (Spain), a Bupa-affiliated aged care network.