Kindly take your time answering the following:

I. Demographics & practical information:

1) To which age group do you belong?

 22-32
 33-43
 44-54
 >55

2) What is your highest qualification?

 Pharmacy assistant.
 Bachelor degree.
 Pharm D.
 Master’s degree.
 PhD.

3) For how long have you been working as a community pharmacist?

 Less than 6 months.

 6 months-2 years.
 3 years-5 years.
 More than 5 years.

4) What percentage of patients buying medications from this pharmacy do you estimate to be 65 years old
and older (≥65)?
 Less than 10% 10–24%  25–49%  50% or more

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II. Knowledge:

1) Are you familiar with the following resources? (If you need an explanation, please refer to page “7”).
The resource Yes No
STOPP/START Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing in
Older People
Beer’s Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older
Patients

2) Please indicate how often you use the following resources to detect prescription errors in elderly patients.
Often Rarely Know of about Never heard
The resource Sometimes use
use use but never use of resource
STOPP/START Criteria for
Potentially Inappropriate
Prescribing in Older People
Beer’s Criteria for Potentially
Inappropriate Medication Use in
Older Patients

3) Please choose your level of agreement with the following statements:

Statements Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree agree
Beta-blockers can be given to an elderly
patient with diabetes mellitus and suffering
frequent hypoglycemic episodes.
Peripheral alpha-1 blockers (ex: doxazosin,
prazosin, terazosin) should be avoided as
antihypertensives in elderly patients.
Long-acting sulfonylureas (ex:
chlorpropamide, glyburide) can be given
safely to elderly patients with type 2 DM.
Sertraline (SSRI) would be the first choice to
recommend in a depressed elderly patient
without any other medical condition.
NSAIDs can be given to a hypertensive
elderly patient with a history of myocardial
infarction to manage long-term arthritis pain.

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III. Practice patterns:

Please write an estimated number to the following questions

1)What percentage of elderly patients receiving inappropriate drugs
need the intervention of pharmacists? /100%

2) What percentage of elderly patients you do medication reviews in

order to identify potentially inappropriate prescriptions? /100%

3) When you see a potentially inappropriate prescription actually seems

inappropriate for a patient, in what percentage of cases do you work /100%
with the doctor?

4) What percentage of your recommendations to substitute or stop a

drug is accepted by the attending physician? /100%
Based on your practice experience, what is the frequency of elderly patients going to a
community pharmacy with the following events?

Always Very often Sometimes Rarely Never

1) Potentially inappropriate prescriptions.
2) Drugs interactions
3) Adverse drug effects
4) Polypharmacy
5) Taking drugs without indication
6) Noncompliance.

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IV. Barriers & resources:

1) Which of the following is considered a barrier to appropriate detection of prescription errors?

(you can choose more than one answer)

 Lack of formal education on prescribing for the elderly.  Lack of knowledge.

 Lack of information about current patient’s medications.  Lack of training.
 The patient is taking a large number of medications.  Lack of time.
 Difficulty in communicating with other health care  Illegible handwriting.
Providers involved in a patient’s care.

2) Which of the following resources of information you use regarding medication evaluation in
the elderlies? (you can choose more than one answer)

 Textbook.  Handbook.
 Consultant (Pharmacist/Physician).  Clinical Practice Guidelines.
 Computer (e.g. websites, google).  Journal articles.
 Software on handheld device (e.g. Medscape, Lexicomp, Micromedex).

Thank you for your participation.

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Appendix 1
Information Leaflet

Please note that this page is meant to give a brief explanation for questions that may seem
vague as they contain some uncommon abbreviations or terms.

 Potentially inappropriate prescribing refers to ‘medications that should generally be avoided

in older populations and doses and frequencies of administrations’.

 STOPP/START Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing in Older People are

evidence-based rules for the avoidance of commonly encountered instances of potentially
inappropriate prescribing and potential prescribing omissions; these criteria are based upon
the physiological systems.

 STOPP  Screening Tool of Older Persons’ Prescriptions.

 START Screening Tool to Alert doctors to the Right Treatment.

 Beer’s Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Patients are guidelines
to improve the safety of prescribing medications for adults 65 and older. It emphasizes risk-
benefit ratio, polypharmacy, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions.

 It categorizes potentially inappropriate medications into three groups:

(a) inappropriate medications that should always be avoided.
(b) potentially inappropriate medications that should be avoided in certain
circumstances.
(c) medications to be used with caution