Tuesday, 1 May 2018
Dr Nagham Ailabouni graduated in Otago on Saturday 12 May, 2018 after completing her thesis "Deprescribing in Older New Zealanders," under spervisor of Dr. Prasad Nishtala (Primary supervisor) and Professor Dee Mangin.
When did you begin your thesis?
2014
What are your other qualifications and where did you study?
Bachelor of Pharmacy (University of Otago)
Postgraduate Certificate in Research (University of Otago)
What brought you to Otago?
Has a great reputation. Good learning environment with other students who are living from home. An exciting student life in a town that has many services tailored to students.
What was the highlight of your PhD?
Learning the skills of publishing research work in peer-reviewed scientific journals from my primary supervisor. Building up a network of researchers with whom you can collaborate and conduct research with.
And can you tell me a bit about your research?
Every day, older New Zealanders take piles upon piles of medicines; some of which may be causing more harm than good. Deprescribing is the process of reducing or stopping such medicines. This thesis primarily aimed to test the feasibility of implementing the process of 'deprescribing' in residential care facilities, with the help of a clinical pharmacist.
This research solidifies that deprescribing can be an effective and safe way to optimise older people's medication use. A reduction of the number of medicines prescribed, as well as medicine side effects and an improvement in frailty and depression scores, were noted six months after 'deprescribing' had been implemented. Future work is required to determine how deprescribing can be implemented on a larger scale into existing New Zealand healthcare policies.
Plans for the future?
Postdoctoral fellowship at a Geriatric Medicine Institute in the United States.