[Clinical practice guideline. Drug prescription in elderly]

The process of prescribing a medication is complex and includes: deciding whether it is indicated, choosing the best option, determining the dose and the appropriate management scheme to the physiological condition of the patient, and monitoring effectiveness and toxicity. We have to inform patients about the expected side effects and indications for requesting a consultation. Specific clinical questions were designed based on the acronym PICOST. The search was made in the specific websites of clinical practice guidelines, was limited to the population of older adults, in English or Spanish. We used 10 related clinical practice guidelines, eight systematic reviews and five meta-analyses. Finally, we made a search of original articles or clinical reviews for specific topics. The development and validation of clinical practice guidelines for "rational drug prescriptions in the elderly" is intended to promote an improvement in the quality of prescription through the prevention and detection of inappropriate prescribing in the elderly and, as a result of this, a decrease in the adverse events by drugs, deterioration of health of patients and expenditure of resources.