Evaluation of an interdisciplinary review committee managing the use of psychotropic medication with people with intellectual disabilities

This paper reports on the first two years of the operation of an Interdisciplinary Review Committee managing the use of psychotropic medication in a training centre for people with intellectual disabilities in Victoria. For 25 clients receiving psychotropic medication in the management of challenging behaviour, daily doses of neuroleptic medication were reduced by an average of 43.9%. Across all psychotropic drugs administered as chemical restraint, daily doses were reduced by an average of 51.2%. Polypharmacy prevalence was reduced from 52.0% to 24.0%. Three of the clients were totally removed from all psychotropic medication with no deleterious outcome. None of the 25 clients had a net medication increase.