Assessment of adherence to renal dosing guidelines in long-term care facilities

A cross-sectional chart review for the month 5/99 has been carried out for four long-term care facilities to find out whether dosing guidelines based on creatinine clearance (Ccr) for renally excreted medications are being applied when drugs are prescribed for long-term care residents. It was found that renal function is often overlooked when these medications are prescribed for this population. Approximately one in three prescriptions was found inappropriate for the calculated Ccr for the patient.