Polypharmacy

Older people with terminal cancer ‘overprescribed’ preventative drugs

Older patients with cancer receiving end-of-life care may be overprescribed preventative medicines, study results have shown.…

RPS publishes guidance on the ‘significant public health challenge’ of polypharmacy

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has published ‘Polypharmacy: Getting our medicines right’ — new guidance for pharmacists and healthcare organisations involved with medicines.…

Post-discharge pharmacy follow-up helps reduce hospital readmission rates, study results suggest

Pharmacist-led telephone follow-ups after hospital discharge can reduce 30 and 90-day readmission rates in polypharmacy patients, according to a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.…

Polypharmacy highlights the problem with conventional medicine

Harriet Pike’s recent article in The Pharmaceutical Journal, ‘Deprescribing: the fightback against polypharmacy has begun’, points to a clear problem relating to conventional medicine. The reductionist approach associated with this type of medicine lends itself to polypharmacy…

Keith Ridge to lead government review of ‘problematic polypharmacy’ in the NHS

The government has ordered a review of overprescribing in the NHS to improve the safety of patient care.…

Call for submissions on polypharmacy and medicines optimisation

Clinical Pharmacist today invites article submissions to showcase current and best practice in the area of polypharmacy and medicines optimisation. This area is an increasing policy focus around the world, with the World Health Organization aiming to reduce severe avoidable medication rel…

Pharmacist interventions may not improve polypharmacy, study shows

There is no clear evidence that pharmaceutical care-based interventions improve appropriate polypharmacy in older people, results of a recent Cochrane Review show.…

Big pharma, government and GPs under fire in polypharmacy investigation

Too many pills: How too much medicine is endangering our health and what can be done about it, by James Le Fanu…

Draft polypharmacy guidance open for consultation

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is seeking views on its draft professional guidance on polypharmacy.…

Doctors fail to predict discharged patients at risk of medication harm

Doctors are poor at predicting which patients may be at risk for medication-related harm after their discharge from hospital, a study has found.…