Capillary blood sampling for the determination of clozapine concentrations: analytical validation and patient experience.

Patients may be reluctant to start clozapine (CLZ) because of the frequent blood sampling needed for white blood cell monitoring, but also therapeutic drug monitoring of CLZ. Finger prick, instead of venepuncture, might lower the threshold to CLZ use. The aim of this study was to determine whether CLZ concentrations are the same in capillary and venous blood samples.

Deprescribing in Newly Admitted Psychogeriatric Nursing Facility Patients.

Objective: To determine whether advised changes as a result of structured medication reviews in psychogeriatric patients were implemented and if the implemented changes were maintained.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Three nursing facilities in The Netherlands.

Specifying ICD9, ICPC and ATC codes for the STOPP/START criteria: a multidisciplinary consensus panel.

Background: the STOPP/START criteria are a promising framework to increase appropriate prescribing in the elderly in clinical practice. However, the current definitions of the STOPP/START criteria are rather non-specific, allowing undesirable variations in interpretation and thus application. The aim of this study was to design specifications of the STOPP/START criteria into international disease and medication codes to facilitate computerised extraction from medical records and databases.

[Detection of inappropriate medication use in the elderly; will the STOPP and START criteria become the new Dutch standards?].

Many drugs that can be prescribed safely and effectively to younger patients are potentially inappropriate for the elderly as a result of physiological changes and increased comorbidity. A screening tool can be useful for detecting potentially inappropriate medication use in the elderly. When analysing medication use in the elderly, both overtreatment and undertreatment should be assessed.