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Safety of opioid patch initiation in Australian residential aged care
Author(s) -
Gadzhanova Svetla,
Roughead Elizabeth E,
Pont Lisa G
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja15.00174
Subject(s) - fentanyl , medicine , buprenorphine , opioid , aged care , transdermal patch , pharmacy , emergency medicine , transdermal , anesthesia , family medicine , pharmacology , nursing , receptor
Objective: To explore opioid use by aged care facility residents before and after initiation of transdermal opioid patches. Design: A cross‐sectional cohort study, analysing pharmacy data on individual patient supply between 1 July 2008 and 30 September 2013. Setting: Sixty residential aged care facilities in New South Wales. Participants: Residents receiving an initial opioid patch during the study period. Main outcome measure: The proportion of residents who were opioid‐naive in the 4 weeks prior to patch initiation was determined. In addition, the patch strength at initiation and the daily dose of transdermal patches and of additional opioids 1 month after initiation were determined. Results: An opioid patch was initiated in 596 of 5297 residents (11.3%: 2.6% fentanyl, 8.7% buprenorphine) in the 60 residential aged care facilities. The mean age at initiation was 87 years, and 74% of the recipients were women. The proportion of recipients who were opioid‐naive before patch initiation was 34% for fentanyl and 49% for buprenorphine. Most were initiated at the lowest available patch strength, and the dose was up‐titrated after initiation. Around 15% of fentanyl users and 10% of buprenorphine users needed additional regular opioids after patch initiation. Conclusions: The results suggest some inappropriate initiation of opioid patches in Australian residential aged care facilities. Contrary to best practice, a third of residents initiated on fentanyl patches were opioid‐naive in the 4 weeks before initiation.