Effectiveness of nurse practitioner-delivered, medication-related services for residential aged care home residents: a systematic review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review will evaluate the effectiveness of medication-related services for people residing in residential aged care homes when nurse practitioners are involved in their care compared to services provided in the absence of nurse practitioners. INTRODUCTION: Nurse practitioners are involved in providing medication-related services such as prescribing, education on medication optimization, and deprescribing to people living in residential aged care homes. The effectiveness of these services is unclear. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The review will include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies describing older adults (median and/or mean age ≥65 years), living in residential aged care homes, receiving medication-related services from nurse practitioners. Medication-related services will include prescribing, education on medication optimization, or deprescribing. Outcomes of interest will be suboptimal prescribing, infection management, pain management, hospitalizations, falls management, behavior management, and bowel management. METHODS: This review will follow the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of effectiveness. Searches will be conducted of PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate (EBSCOhost), Embase (Ovid), Cochrane Library, Web of Science Core Collection, and PsycINFO (Ovid). Studies will need to be published from 2000 onward in English. Gray literature will be identified through Google searches. Two reviewers will independently screen studies, extract data, and conduct critical appraisal. Quantitative data will be summarized descriptively, while qualitative data will be examined using thematic analysis. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB 2) tool and the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies - of Interventions, Version 2 (ROBINS-I V2). Methodological quality will be assessed using JBI critical appraisal tools. Certainty of evidence will be evaluated using the GRADE approach. REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD420251059820.