Table 1

Patient-level plan–do–study–act identified issues/concerns versus change intervention data (aggregated)

Identified issues/concernsChange interventions
No patients

  1. Study expanded across an additional unit to improve recruitment population pool.

Withdrawal symptoms

  1. Restart benzodiazepine and increase the duration of deprescribing.

  2. Start a new appropriate medication (ie, antidepressant when it is being used for anxiety).

Reluctance to start deprescribing

  1. Increasing number of conversations being held between patient and prescriber.

  2. Changing to an alternative benzodiazepine.

  3. Approaching the issue of benzodiazepine deprescribing at different encounters.

  4. Substituting the benzodiazepine for a more appropriate medication (ie, antidepressant when it is being used for anxiety).

Worsening anxiety symptoms during benzodiazepine deprescribing

  1. Substituting the benzodiazepine for a more appropriate medication (ie, antidepressant when it is being used for anxiety).

  2. Consultation with geriatric psychiatry as needed.

  3. Titration of benzodiazepine dose up as needed.