Polypharmacy- "Too many medicine and the risks behind them"

Pharmacy
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Polypharmacy is not just mean by ‘Too many drugs’ it means many medication without a clear purpose.

Polypharmacy occur in elderly people prescription, patients with chronic illness,in long hospital stays .

Why it is dangerous?

◇It may cause drug drug interactions
◇It may leads to poor adherence due to pill burden
◇ There are high risks of confusion, and symptoms sometimes mistakenly considered as new diseases.

Polypharmacy
Polypharmacy1024×1536 416 KB

How can we avoid harms caused by polypharmacy?

  • Regular medication review & deprescribing
  • Clear indication for every single drug
  • Stop duplicate therapies
  • Involve Clinical pharmacists in rounds where they help in providing evidence based indications,deprescribing, finding drug drug interactions,dose optimization and patient education.
  • Educate patients to carry an updated medicine list.

Good medication practice is not how many drugs you prescribe, its about how many drug patient actually need!!!

What are your thoughts on Polypharmacy ?

MBH/PS

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Definitely, only drugs that are absolutely indicated should be prescribed. Unnecessary additional drug prescription can cause drug interaction.

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Absolutely. Some people believe that taking many medications can cure all diseases. However, polypharmacy can lead to drug-drug interactions. To avoid side effects and risks, medications should only be taken as prescribed by a doctor. Clinical pharmacists plays a crucial role in educating the patients about their medications including how, when, why to use them.

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