Bio: Carmel Hughes, a 1998-99 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a lecturer in Pharmacy Practice at the School of Pharmacy, The Queen's University of Belfast where she has taught full-time and conducted research since 1997. Her primary research interests are in the care of the elderly, the interface between general practitioners and pharmacists, rational prescribing and drug misuse. Dr. Hughes qualified as a pharmacist in 1988 and received her Ph.D. in pharmacology in 1991. Previously, she was appointed to a part-time lectureship in pharmacy and seconded to the Eastern Health and Social Services Board (Northern Ireland) as a Prescribing Advisor, where she provided prescribing support and advice to general practitioners. She is active in professional pharmaceutical activities through commitments to a number of continuing education/professional development programs for pharmacists, and still practices in community settings.
Placement: Brown University
Mentors: Vincent Mor, Ph.D., Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, Brown University
Project: Evaluation of Prescribing and Related Clinical Outcomes in U.S. Nursing Homes as a Basis for U.K. Models
Description: For her project, Hughes examined the impact of the 1987 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA 87) on prescribing trends of psychoactive drugs (i.e., chemical restraints) in U.S. nursing homes, and whether these trends have resulted in better outcomes for residents. She first conducted a literature review on the impact of the legislation on nursing homes, and then undertook an international comparison of psychoactive drug use in the U.S. versus Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Japan, and Italy. For U.S. data, she used the Minimum Data Set and the Online Survey Certification and Automated Record.