Know your patient’s renal function – an important prescribing consideration.

Workshop overview Analysis of the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs health claims data1 identified that a quarter of elderly patients 85 years or older, who often have poor renal function,2 were on medicines that may be affected by poor renal function or may compromise renal function, and had not had a recent test to monitor their renal function. To support practice, the Veterans’ MATES program3 provided a therapeutic brief4 to doctors about the importance of renal function in the elderly when prescribing, along with patient specific feedback. Nearly 90% of responding doctors found the information useful and more than 40% indicated that they found adjusting doses of medicines in renal impairment difficult or very difficult, while a further 47% indicated they had some difficulty. This workshop will use cases to highlight the importance of renal monitoring, when renal function monitoring should be considered, how to estimate renal function, the role of the various tests and equations used to estimate glomerular filtration rate, and provide guidance on the adjustments required when prescribing medicines. The workshop will present the theoretical information required for participants to work through a series of case studies in small groups. Each case study will be followed by open group discussion.