***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
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    Input: BACKGROUND Collaboration between physicians and pharmacists is one approach to address drug-related morbidity and achieve therapeutic goals . A collaborative practice of pharmaceutical care has been used in the Fairview Clinics System of Minneapolis-St Paul since 1999 . METHODS The quality of therapeutic determinations made by pharmacists within this collaborative practice of pharmaceutical care was studied by a 12-member panel of physicians and pharmacists who used r and omly selected patient records . This was a quality improvement and care process validation component of a study evaluating the effects of drug therapy management in patients receiving prepaid medical assistance . An implicit review process was used to evaluate the clinical credibility of therapeutic determinations made by pharmaceutical care practitioners . RESULTS A total of 5780 drug therapy problems were resolved for 2524 patients receiving pharmaceutical care . The rate of therapeutic goals achieved increased from 74 % at the time of patients ' initial pharmaceutical care encounters to 89 % at patients ' latest encounters . In this quality assessment analysis panel members performed a total of 4779 evaluations of clinical decisions . Panelists indicated agreement with the evaluations in 94.2 % of cases , expressed a neutral opinion in 3.6 % of cases , and disagreed in 2.2 % of cases . Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.73 to 0.85 . CONCLUSIONS The decisions made by pharmaceutical care practitioners working in collaboration with physicians to provide drug therapy management services are clinical ly credible based on the evaluations and comments of a peer review panel . This study provides information on the quality of care provided by pharmacists when collaborating with physicians to provide drug therapy management services OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of pharmaceutical care provided in addition to acute Geriatric Evaluation and Management ( GEM ) care on the appropriateness of prescribing . DESIGN R and omized , controlled trial , with the patient as unit of r and omization . SETTING Acute GEM unit . PARTICIPANTS Two hundred three patients aged 70 and older . INTERVENTION Pharmaceutical care provided from admission to discharge by a specialist clinical pharmacist who had direct contacts with the GEM team and patients . MEASUREMENTS Appropriateness of prescribing on admission , at discharge , and 3 months after discharge , using the Medication Appropriateness Index ( MAI ) , Beers criteria , and Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders ( ACOVE ) underuse criteria and mortality , readmission , and emergency visits up to 12 months after discharge . RESULTS Intervention patients were significantly more likely than control patients to have an improvement in the MAI and in the ACOVE underuse criteria from admission to discharge ( odds ratio (OR)=9.1 , 95 % confidence interval (CI)=4.2 - 21.6 and OR=6.1 , 95 % CI=2.2 - 17.0 , respectively ) . The control and intervention groups had comparable improvements in the Beers criteria . CONCLUSION Pharmaceutical care provided in the context of acute GEM care improved the appropriate use of medicines during the hospital stay and after discharge . This is an important finding , because only limited data exist on the effect of various strategies to improve medication use in elderly in patients . The present approach has the potential to minimize risk and improve patient outcomes OBJECTIVES To determine whether a medication review by a specialized team would promote regimen changes in elders taking multiple medications and to measure the effect of regimen changes on monthly cost and functioning . DESIGN A r and omized-controlled trial . SETTING Health center ambulatory clinic . PARTICIPANTS Community-dwelling older adults taking five or more medications were assessed at baseline and 6 weeks . A  medication-change intervention group of 57 elders was compared with a control group of 76 elder adults . INTERVENTION The primary intervention was a comprehensive review and recommended modification of a patient 's medication regimen . Changes were endorsed by each patient 's primary physician and discussed with each patient . MEASUREMENTS Measures were the Timed Manual Performance Test , Physical Performance Test , Functional Reach Assessment , subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale , a modified R and t Memory Test , the Center for Epidemiological Studies -Depression Scale , the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale , and the R and 36-item Health Survey 1.0 . Comorbidity was determined using the International Classification of Diseases , Ninth Revision , Clinical Modification . Medication usage was determined using brown bag review . RESULTS Intervention subjects decreased their medications by an average of 1.5 drugs . No differences in functioning were observed between groups . Intervention subjects saved an average $ 26.92 per month in wholesale medication costs ; control subjects saved $ 6.75 per month ( P<.006 ) . CONCLUSION Although the intervention significantly reduced the medications taken and monthly cost , most patients were resistant to reducing medications to the recommended level . Further study is needed to underst and patient resistance to reducing adverse polypharmacy and to devise better strategies for addressing this important problem in geriatric health . Greater focus on prescriber behavior is recommended Aim : To measure the outcomes of a harmonised , structured pharmaceutical care programme provided to elderly patients by community pharmacists . Method : A r and omised , controlled , longitudinal , clinical trial with repeated measures was performed over an 18‐month period , involving  community pharmacies ( 5 intervention and 5 control ) in Northern Irel and . Elderly , ambulatory patients ( ≥ 65 years ) , taking 4 or more prescribed medications were eligible for participation . Patients attending an intervention pharmacy received education on medical conditions , implementation of compliance strategies , rationalising of drug regimens and appropriate monitoring ; patients attending control sites received normal services . A battery of clinical , humanistic and economic outcomes were assessed . Results : A significantly higher proportion of intervention patients were compliant at the end of the 18‐month study and experienced fewer problems with medication compared to control patients ( P < 0.05 ) . There was little impact on quality of life and health care utilisation . Conclusions : Pharmaceutical care provision to community‐dwelling patients result ed in an improvement in medication compliance and evidence of cost‐savings . Future pharmaceutical care studies may benefit from a more focussed selective approach to data collection and outcomes measurement OBJECTIVE To compare patients ' adherence to therapy , expectations , satisfaction with pharmacy services , and health-related quality of life ( HRQOL ) after the provision of pharmaceutical care with those of patients who received traditional pharmacy care .  DESIGN R and omized controlled cluster design . SETTING Sixteen community pharmacies in Alberta , Canada . PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS Ambulatory elderly ( > or = 65 years of age ) patients covered under Alberta Health & Wellness 's senior drug benefit plan and who were concurrently using three or more medications according to pharmacy profiles . INTERVENTION Pharmacies were r and omly assigned to either treatment ( intervention ) or control ( traditional pharmacy care ) groups . Patients at treatment pharmacies were recruited into the study , and pharmacists provided comprehensive pharmaceutical care services . Pharmacists at control pharmacies continued to provide traditional pharmacy care . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Study participants ' opinions , adherence to therapy , and scores on the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey ( SF-36 ) . RESULTS Compared with those of patients receiving traditional care , treatment patients ' expectations that their pharmacist would perform activities congruent with pharmaceutical care changed over the study period . Treatment patients ' satisfaction with the constructs " trust , " " evaluation and goal setting , " and " communicates with doctor " were also positively affected . HRQOL and patient adherence were not significantly affected by pharmaceutical care interventions . CONCLUSION Successful implementation of a pharmaceutical care practice model has the potential to increase patients ' satisfaction with their pharmacists ' activities and may increase patients ' expectations that pharmacists will work on their behalf to assist them with their health care needs . If pharmaceutical care affects patients ' HRQOL , instruments more specific than the SF-36 may be needed to detect the differences Abstract Objective : To determine whether a pharmacist can effectively review repeat prescriptions through consultations with elderly patients in general practice . Design : R and omised controlled trial of clinical medication review by a pharmacist against normal general practice review . Setting : Four general practice s. Participants : 1188 patients aged 65 or over who were receiving at least one repeat prescription and living in the community . Intervention : Patients were invited to a consultation at which the pharmacist review ed their medical conditions and current treatment . Main outcome measures : Number of changes to repeat prescriptions over one year , drug costs , and use of healthcare services . Results : 590 ( 97 % ) patients in the intervention group were review ed compared with 233 ( 44 % ) in the control group . Patients seen by the pharmacist were more likely to have changes made to their repeat prescriptions ( mean number of changes per patient 2.2 v 1.9 ; difference=0.31 , 95 % confidence interval 0.06 to 0.57 ; P=0.02 ) . Monthly drug costs rose in both groups over the year , but the rise was less in the intervention group ( mean difference £ 4.72 per 28 days , −£7.04 to -£2.41 ) ; equivalent to £ 61 per patient a year . Intervention patients had a smaller rise in the number of drugs prescribed ( 0.2 v 0.4 ; mean difference −0.2 , −0.4 to −0.1 ) . There was no evidence that review of treatment by the pharmacist affected practice consultation rates , outpatient consultations , hospital admissions , or death rate . Conclusions : A clinical pharmacist can conduct effective consultations with elderly patients in general practice to review their drugs . Such review results in significant changes in patients ' drugs and saves more than the cost of the intervention without affecting the workload of general practitioners . What is already known on this topic Review of patients on long term drug treatment is important but is done inadequately Evidence from the United States shows that pharmacists can improve patient care by review ing drug treatment What this study adds Consultations with a clinical pharmacist are an effective method of review ing the drug treatment of older patients Review by a pharmacist results in more drug changes and lower prescribing costs than normal care plus a much higher review rate Use of healthcare services by patients is not OBJECTIVES To describe the processes of care used by community pharmacists participating in the Pharmaceutical Care Research and Education Project ( PREP ) in terms of drug-related problems ( DRPs ) , pharmacists ' recommendations , and status of DRPs at follow-up , and to determine characteristics associated with DRPs . DESIGN Descriptive analysis of the treatment group from a larger r and omized , controlled cluster design . SETTING Five independent community pharmacies in Alberta . PARTICIPANTS One hundred fifty-nine patients who were covered under Alberta Health and Wellness 's senior drug benefit plan ( i.e. , 65 years or older ) , were taking three or more medications concurrently according to pharmacy records , were able to complete telephone interviews as determined by pharmacists , maintained residence in Alberta for 12 of the 15 study months , agreed to receive their prescription medications only from the study pharmacy during the study period , and provided informed consent . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Frequency of DRPs , recommendations , status of DRPs , and analysis of clinical results as determined during pharmacists ' follow-up care . RESULTS In telephone surveys , patients reported taking 4.7 prescription medications per day , but pharmacists documented 8.7 prescription medications per day in their records . Pharmacists documented 559 DRPs  , a mean ( + /- SD ) of 3.9+/-3.2 problems per patient . Approximately 39 % of problems were actual DRPs , while 60 % were potential DRPs . Medical conditions associated most frequently with a DRP involved the respiratory , cardiovascular , and musculoskeletal systems . The most common DRP categories were " patient requires drug therapy " or " patient requires influenza or pneumococcal vaccination . " Pharmacists wrote 551 initial clinical notes using the subjective , objective , assessment , plan ( SOAP ) format , and they recorded 346 follow-up interventions , also using SOAP notes . Counseling , preventive consultations , and clinical monitoring represented 40 % of their recommendations . In 80 % of situations , the pharmacist made the recommendation directly to the patient . On follow-up , 40 % of the 559 DRPs identified were resolved , controlled , or improved . Patients accepted 76 % of pharmacists ' recommendations , and physicians accepted 72 % of pharmacists ' suggested resolutions of DRPs . Pharmacists were more likely to follow up about actual DRPs , as compared with potential ones ; overall , they followed up on 62 % of identified DRPs . CONCLUSION Pharmacists identified more DRPs for study patients than previous community-based , observational studies have reported . Undertreatment appears to be a prevalent DRP . Community pharmacists ' recommendations to prevent and resolve DRPs were made primarily to patients and were well accepted . More follow-up was needed for all DRPs . When follow-up occurred , the DRP results generally showed improvement BACKGROUND Patients 80 years or older are underrepresented in scientific studies . The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of interventions performed by ward-based pharmacists in reducing morbidity and use of hospital care among older patients . METHODS A r and omized controlled study of patients 80 years or older was conducted at the University Hospital of Uppsala , Uppsala , Sweden . Four hundred patients were recruited consecutively between October 1 , 
    Output:
    
Conclusion This systematic review shows a significant association between the number of key elements of the intervention reflecting collaborative aspects in medication review and the implementation rate of recommendations