Benefits for Seniors & Their Families
While most older adults and their families don’t know much if anything about the Beers criteria, it benefits them. Kishore said, “It is often difficult for family members to get on board with deprescribing, whether that means de-escalating a therapy to a more appropriate dose or taking an older adult family member off a medication because its perceived benefits never did or no longer outweigh the potential risks. We can help them understand how the criteria can help ensure safe, effective medication regimens.”
It is important, Bose said, to communicate to patients and families that “we’re trying to intervene and help improve an older adult’s quality of life by deprescribing. It is important for them to understand that we’re not trying to take medication away from their loved one but re-evaluating whether there is a continuing benefit of various medications to them, particularly as they age.” The criteria is a resource practitioners can share as a viable, evidence-based source of information and guidance.
Beers Criteria in the Classroom
The criteria’s value as an educational tool is both significant and sustained. Bose said, “I was born a year after the original criteria were published, and I have been intimately familiar with it since I was a pharmacy student. It was part of the curriculum. I imagine that most clinicians currently practicing in senior and long-term care learned about the criteria during their professional training.” He added, “It still reflects current best practices and clinical evidence.”