The effect of a trAnSitional Pharmacist Intervention in geRiatric inpatients on hospital visits after dischargE (ASPIRE): Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Unplanned rehospitalizations occur frequently in older patients. Drug-related problems constitute a major and largely preventable cause with inappropriate prescribing being a substantial culprit. Solutions are needed to reduce this risk by targeting pharmacotherapy both during and after hospital stay. Therefore, we aim to perform a randomized controlled trial in geriatric inpatients to investigate the impact of a multifaceted clinical pharmacy intervention on health-related outcomes. The study concerns a monocenter, non-blinded, randomized controlled trial that will take place at the acute geriatric wards of a large academic hospital. Patients being in a palliative stage with active therapy withdrawal or patients discharged to another ward within the same hospital or another hospital are excluded. In total, 828 patients will be randomized (1:1) to the usual care or intervention group. The multifaceted clinical pharmacy intervention comprises medication reconciliation at admission and discharge, medication review, patient/caregiver education, intensified communication with primary care providers and post-discharge follow-up, which also includes a telepharmacology service. The primary endpoint is defined as the time to an all-cause, unplanned hospital revisit within six months after discharge. Other health-related outcomes such as drug-related readmissions, quality of life and number of potentially inappropriate medications will be analyzed as secondary endpoints. Patient inclusion started in February 2021. This study will provide useful insights regarding the impact of clinical pharmacy interventions on geriatric wards with the goal to optimize health-related outcomes such as hospital revisits. Trial registration:ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04617340 •We plan to investigate a multifaceted clinical pharmacy intervention in geriatric inpatients.•The study targets geriatric inpatients owing to their high risk of unplanned hospital revisits.•A transitional care step was included as medication review alone has not been shown to be effective.•Our randomized controlled trial is powered for the time to a first unplanned hospital revisit within six months.