Our School’s faculty and students presented two posters at the ASCP Annual Meeting, and the abstracts are in the October issue of The Consultant Pharmacist.
Julia Yunkyung, Laura Hart, and Shelly Gray presented a poster titled, “Definition of fall risk-increasing drugs in the literature: Challenges and implications.” We know falls in older adults can be extremely dangerous, resulting in serious injuries, even death. The team looked at nine studies that evaluated fall risk-increasing drugs (FRID) use in older adults with a recent fall and categorized them by subcategories, such as central nervous system (CNS)-active, cardiovascular, and other. The number of subclasses included in FRID definitions ranged considerably from 6 to 15. The authors found, “inconsistent definitions of FRIDs have implications for evaluating prevalence of FRID use and identifying or prioritizing medications to target for interventions.”
Jina Yun and Leigh Ann Mike presented a poster titled, “Student-pharmacist-led fall risk outreach event in older Korean adults: Summary of participants’ experience and satisfaction,” at the conference. Working with a community of older Korean adults, student pharmacists planned an event to screen and educate attendees on fall risks and osteoporosis. They developed a questionnaire and performed osteoporosis screening by measuring bone density at the ankle. Of those who participated, about a quarter had a fall and half had discussed fall risk with their physician prior to the event. Many of the participants were illiterate in English, Korean, or both languages. The team found that, overall attendees “had a positive experience at the student-pharmacist led event and would benefit from ongoing outreach events that identify and meet their health needs.”
Are you interested in working with the top-rated faculty and studying geriatric pharmacy with preeminent student peers?
Click here for more information about the Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate or click these links to learn about the UW PharmD program.