Developing geriatric-specific pharmacotherapy guidelines: Insights and challenges

Omnicare, Inc, a provider of pharmacy services to long-term care facilities , teamed with the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy several years ago to dev elop comprehensive evidence-based guidelines for drug therapy in geriatric patients. This interview with members of the Omnicare P & T Committee explo res the development of and philosophy behind the guidelines, which are upda ted and expanded on an annual basis. Among the topics discussed are the gui delines' clinical rating system, how the guidelines are implemented and use d as an Omnicare formulary, the biggest challenges in developing pharmacoth erapy guidelines for elderly populations, and general advice on drug decisi on-making for geriatric patients.