Fewer aged care residents are being prescribed nine or more medications but the issue of polypharmacy remains the key challenge for residential care operators, according to a new report.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s latest release of Residential Aged Care Quality Indicators, from January to March, show that 37.4% of residents were prescribed nine or more medications, which is a slight improvement on both October-December 2021 (38.3%) and July-September 2021 (41%).
In addition, 20.5% of aged care residents were being prescribed antipsychotic medication, which is lower than the previous two quarters (20.7% and 21.6%). The proportion of antipsychotic users diagnosed with psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, or disordered thought) remained at 11.1% (for the past two quarters) and lower than the July-September 2021 quarter (11.6%).
The latest results, from data provided by 92% of residential aged care services, also showed the rate of falls (31.5%) remained the same as the last quarter. However, falls resulting in major injury increased to 2.2% from 2.1% over the previous six months. Major injuries include bone fractures, joint dislocations, closed head injuries with altered consciousness and subdural haematoma.
Among the positive news was a slight drop in residents having to be physically restrained. Based on a three-day recording period during the third quarter, 37,050 residents were restrained, including 28,907 residents restrained exclusively via a secure area. This represents 21.4% of total residents, which is lower than October-December (21.9%) and July-September (23%).
The number of pressure injuries rose slightly. 10,403 residents had one or more pressure injuries including 1,420 residents who acquired a pressure injury offsite. The proportion of residents with one or more pressure injury was 5.9%, an increase on 5.7% the previous quarter.
The final Quality Indicator used is unplanned weight loss, which is where a resident loses weight despite there being no written strategy or ongoing record relating to planned weight loss.
The rate of significant unplanned weight loss, which is 5% or more when comparing to previous quarters, was 10.9% of residents, an increase from 8.9% and 8.4% in the previous two quarters.
Consecutive unplanned weight loss, which is weight loss every month over three consecutive months of the quarter, was also up in the January-March quarter (11.2%) compared to October-December (10%) and July-September (9.5%).
