Pharmacists and their effectiveness in ensuring the appropriateness of the chronic medication regimens of geriatric inpatients.

Objective: Geriatric patients are prescribed multiple medications by multiple physicians, leaving them at an increased risk for adverse events. The Beers criteria for determining inappropriately prescribed medications have been applied to elderly patients in various geriatric settings. Using the 1997 Beers criteria, we planned to determine if the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) team pharmacist improved the medication regimens of geriatric inpatients.