Clinical pharmacist evaluation of medication inappropriateness in the emergency department of a teaching hospital in Malta

Appropriate prescribing remains an important priority in all medical areas of practice. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to apply a Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) to identify issues of inappropriate prescribing amongst patients admitted from the Emergency Department (ED). METHODS: This study was carried out at Malta's general hospital on 125 patients following a two-week pilot period on 10 patients. Patients aged 18 years and over and on medication therapy were included. Medication treatment for inappropriateness was assessed by using the MAI. Under-prescribing was also screened for. RESULTS: Treatment charts of 125 patients, including 697 medications, were assessed using a MAI. Overall, 115 (92%) patients had one or more medications with one or more MAI criteria rated as inappropriate, giving a total of 384 (55.1%) medications prescribed inappropriately. The mean SD MAI score per drug was 1.78 (SD=2.19). The most common medication classes with appropriateness problems were biguanides (100%), anti-arrhythmics (100%) and anti-platelets (96.8%). The most common problems involved incorrect directions (26%) and incorrect dosages (18.5%). There were 36 omitted medications with untreated indications. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable inappropriate prescribing which could have significant negative effects regarding patient care.