Prescribing Portraits to Optimize Prescribing of Proton Pump Inhibitors in Long-Term Care: PPI-T STOP Study.

Abstract

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are among the most commonly prescribed medications in Canada, particularly for older adults (at least 65 years of age). Overprescribing of long-term PPIs leads to health care system waste and is associated with adverse effects, including infections and fractures. The high prevalence of PPI prescribing in long-term care (LTC) facilities prompted an evaluation of systematic approaches to PPI deprescribing.

Objective: To assess the impact of individualized prescribing portraits, a type of audit-and-feedback quality improvement intervention, on PPI deprescribing in the LTC setting.

Methods: This prospective, nonblinded, uncontrolled, pre-post quality improvement study was conducted from December 2021 to April 2022 at a 126-bed LTC facility in Vancouver, British Columbia. A PPI prescribing portrait was developed for each prescriber (n = 5) at the LTC facility, containing the prescriber's personal PPI prescribing metrics as compared with those of their peers across all LTC facilities within the same health authority; an evidence summary for PPI deprescribing; and a personalized list of the prescriber's PPI-treated residents, along with their respective PPI indications and strategies for PPI deprescribing. Three months after the prescribers received their PPI prescribing portraits, the number and types of PPI deprescribing orders were recorded.

Results: The implementation of prescribing portraits resulted in 17 (61%) of 28 PPI-treated residents receiving a deprescribing order by the end of the study period. Of the 28 PPI-treated residents, 20 were determined to be eligible for PPI deprescribing according to the evidence summary presented in the prescribing portrait; of these 20 residents, 16 (80%) appropriately received PPI deprescribing.

Conclusions: Individualized prescribing portraits had the potential to increase evidence-based PPI deprescribing among LTC residents, beyond the extent of deprescribing previously achieved through standard of care.