UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- An article by Donna Fick, Distinguished Professor of Nursing, was named by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society as one of 27 “landmark articles for advancing the practice of geriatrics.”
Fick was principal author of “Updating the Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults: Results of a U.S. Consensus Panel of Experts,” published in the December 2003 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Through a literature review, expert opinion survey and consensus panel, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society identified 27 landmark articles from the peer-reviewed literature as a resource for health care practitioners to teach the fundamental principles of geriatric medicine. They then ranked the articles using a combination of these factors and a bibliometric analysis that included journal impact and average monthly citation. Fick’s article ranked No. 10 in the list of 27 and was cited 1,093 times via Web of Science.
First published in 1991 and widely used to evaluate medication use in older adults, the Beers Criteria were originally developed by geriatrician Mark H. Beers through a consensus panel of experts. The study used a modified Delphi method to identify medications whose risk of adverse events in adults age 65 and older outweigh the benefits and which should therefore be avoided in this population.
Fick’s 2003 update — the second such update since 1991 — revised the criteria to account for new drugs on the market, increased knowledge of existing drugs and removal of older drugs on the market. In 2011, the American Geriatrics Society assumed the responsibility of regularly updating the Beers Criteria; and in 2012, Fick co-chaired a panel of clinical experts responsible for updating the Beers Criteria a third time.