Objectives: To describe nursing home (NH) characteristics associated with antipsychotic use and test whether associations changed after implementation of the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care's antipsychotic reduction initiative (ARI).
Methods: Longitudinal quasi-experimental design using data from multiple sources and piecewise linear mixed models were used for statistical analyses.
Results: There was a significant decrease in monthly antipsychotic use across the study period (pre-ARI b = -0.0003, p <.001; post-ARI b = -0.0012, p <.001), which held after adjusting for NH characteristics. Registered nurse hours (b = -0.0026, p <.001), licensed practical nurse hours (b = -0.0019, p <.001), facility chain membership (b = -0.0013, p <.01), and health inspection ratings (b = -0.0003, p >.01) were associated with decreased antipsychotic use. Post-ARI changes in associations between NH characteristics and antipsychotic use were small and not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Decreases in antipsychotic use were associated with most NH characteristics, and associations persisted post-ARI. Further research is warranted to examine the interactions between ARI policy and NH characteristics on antipsychotic prescribing, as well as other NH factors, such as facility prescribing cultures and clinical specialty of staff.
Clinical implications: Decreases in monthly antipsychotic use were observed following the ARI. The decreases in monthly antipsychotic use were associated with most NH characteristics, and these associations persisted during the post-ARI period.
Keywords: Antipsychotics; long-term care; nursing homes.