title: The Effects of a Web Application and Medical Monitoring on the Quality of Medication, Adverse Drug Events and Adherence in the Elderly Living at Home: a Protocol of the Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In more than half of elderly chronically-ill family clinic attendees, drug prescribing deviates from the internationally acknowledged STOPP/START recommendations. Our study will determine whether it is possible to improve the quality of drug prescriptions in chronically-ill elderly people living at home by regularly monitoring the prescribed drugs according to STOPP/START criteria.
  
  
  METHODS
  The project started in 2014 and will run until 2017. Forty general practitioners (GPs) are participating in a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. From the patient register, GPs randomly selected 20 patients older than 65 years who regularly receive at least one drug and invited them to participate in the study. We will use the START/STOPP criteria to determine the (in)adequacy of drug prescribing in the elderly by a web application (WA). Expected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The use of the WA will be the basis of the implementation of the final version of the application into the regular family medicine practice, thereby reducing the problems of inappropriate prescribing, correct medication, polypharmacy and adherence; we will identify the stability of the factors of drug prescribing in the elderly. By comparing the test and control groups, it will be possible to distinguish which are related to the WA and which act independently.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Polona
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Selic
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Eva Cedilnik
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Gorup
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Savin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gorup
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Marija Petek
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ster
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Janez
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rifel
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Zalika Klemenc
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Ketis
keywords: ADE – adverse drug events; adherence; chronic illness; depression; drug prescription; elderly; family medicine; multi morbidity; patient; polypharmacy