Leveraging Pharmacists Using RE-AIM Framework to Implement Age-Friendly Nursing Home Care.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to describe the approach taken to leverage pharmacists to implement the Age-Friendly 4Ms (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility) using the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework. DESIGN: Implementation science program evaluation using data from surveys, training and social media metrics, and interviews. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Pharmacists providing clinical services to post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) facilities, pharmacies, and health systems. METHODS: Taking a program implementation approach, pharmacists in PALTC settings were trained and deployed to engage multidisciplinary collaborative teams and increase implementation of the 4Ms in nursing homes (NH), pharmacies, and other PALTC sites. Regional champions were appointed to recruit additional pharmacists, recent pharmacy graduates, NHs, and other health care settings. The numbers of pharmacists and recent pharmacy graduates achieving Age-Friendly recognition, NH and pharmacies engaged, presentations given, newsletters disseminated, and publications were reported in Survey Monkey monthly by regional champions. Social media views and shares were other metrics tracked. RESULTS: Over 1500 pharmacists attained Age-Friendly recognition, 272 of whom were recent graduates, and 656 pharmacies and 53 NH were engaged over 11 months. Social media views and shares were 5029 and 1856, respectively, through November 6, 2025. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Leveraging pharmacists to implement Age-Friendly practices across PALTC care settings is outlined within the RE-AIM framework in this implementation report. From a public health perspective, it is expected that Age-Friendly care processes will ultimately be incorporated into the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reporting of quality measures used to compare NHs.

Duke Scholars

Author Milta O Little Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care