International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and Management, Volume 4 Issue 5, May 2019 www.ijasrm.com ISSN 2455-6378 86 Qualitative Analysis: Issues and barriers of Medication Management in Residential Aged Care Facilities Mariani Ahmad Nizaruddin 1 , Nurul Dania Abdul Rahman 1 , Marhanis Salihah Omar 2 , Adliah Mhd Ali 2 , Mohd Makmor Bakry 2 1 Department of Community Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, 63000 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia. 2 Faculty of Pharmacy, National University of Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Aziz, Kuala Lumpur. Abstract Malaysia is one of the developing countries in the world that faces the issue of an increasing elderly population. Co-morbidity and multiple uses of medication commonly occur among elderly population. Prevalence of inappropriate medication management is high in the residential aged care facility settings. A qualitative study was conducted to identify relevant issues and barriers in achieving effective medication management in Malaysian nursing home. Document type of analyses was used in which documents in the form of analytical writing, journal keeping, policy report, or press release were gathered. from different databases, including Mendeley, Medline, Science Direct, Google and Google Scholar. The extracted data were analysed using thematic analysis to classify and find the pattern on those issues. The triangulation method emphasised within method and type of investigator was used to validate the data. Several themes including governance associated with medication management, regulatory, system influenced medication management, medication use process, theory of interdisciplinary collaboration, patient-related factor, staff-related factor and lack of research on medication management were identified in this study. The validated data is important to discover the barrier in achieving good medication management. Thus, the finding in this study highlighted the issue regarding medication management requiring standardised system and established guideline. Keywords: Qualitative analysis, nursing home, residential aged care facility, long-term care, medication management and medication mismanagement. 1. Introduction Based on United Nations estimation, the world population of 60 years and above will be 1.2 billion by the year 2025, and the largest contributions are in the developing countries (Arokiasamy, 1997). In Malaysia, the continuing decline in mortality and fertility has resulted in the increase of aging population. Hence, that compounded with social changes has resulted in an expanding residential aged care facility and nursing home sector. Nursing home is defined as a long-term, aged or skilled care facility which provides care for dependent older people (Spilsbury et al., 2011). In Malaysia, these services are provided by the government, NGOs and the private sector. Medication mismanagement is a growing public health concern, especially among elders. It has been reported approximately 3 million older adults were admitted into nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities because of medication mismanagement- related events and other drug-related problems annually (Johnson JA & Bootman JL, 1995). Medication management in nursing homes is complex and the elderly living in such settings have high risk of medication error which can affects their health