What Population Is At Risk For Polypharmacy?

Frailty, multimorbidity, obesity, and decreased physical as well as mental health status are risk factors for excessive polypharmacy. Sex, educational level, and smoking apparently do not seem to be related to excessive polypharmacy.

Who is affected by polypharmacy?

Polypharmacy, defined as regular use of at least five medications, is common in older adults and younger at-risk populations and increases the risk of adverse medical outcomes.

What are the impacts of polypharmacy on the older person on the healthcare system?

Polypharmacy increases risk of adverse events and errors

Taking multiple medications – known as ‘polypharmacy’ – increases the risk of medications being implicated in hospital admissions, particularly when an older person presents with falls, confusion or incontinence3.

How can providers prevent polypharmacy?

How Physicians Can Prevent or Better Manage Polypharmacy

  1. Be militant about medication reconciliation. …
  2. Ask patients if they are being treated by other physicians and providers. …
  3. Verify that there is an actual indication for every medication being taken. …
  4. Assess deprescribing opportunities at every visit or care transition.

Why does polypharmacy increase risk?

Polypharmacy is linked to increased risk of adverse drug events in older people due to increased risk of drug interactions, lack of adherence to medication regimes, susceptibility of older people to side effects of medications, and physical changes related to ageing causing difficulties in taking medications as …

What causes polypharmacy?

Polypharmacy can be caused by a variety of factors including: Self-medicating without an accurate understanding of effects and reactions. Patients being prescribed multiple medications by health professionals who are not aware of other parties involved.

What is the nurses role in preventing polypharmacy?

The nursing staff can help monitor the patient for beneficial or harmful effects from tapering or stopping medications. Patients and families can be educated about the dangers of polypharmacy so that they understand that a medication may be stopped if it is causing harm or no longer benefits the patient.

Why is it important to consider a patient’s polypharmacy?

While in many instances the use of multiple medicines or polypharmacy may be clinically appropriate, it is important to identify patients with inappropriate polypharmacy that may place patients at increased risk of adverse events and poor health outcomes.

How common is polypharmacy?

The prevalence of polypharmacy reported in literature varies between 10% to as high as around 90% according to the age group, definition used, healthcare and geographical setting of the study.

How do you identify polypharmacy?

Polypharmacy is recognised by an assessment: on admission; at any time the resident’s condition changes; when a new medicine is ordered; or when the resident is taking nine or more medicines.

Where does polypharmacy occur?

Polypharmacy is most common in the elderly, affecting about 40% of older adults living in their own homes. Polypharmacy often occurs because the patient may be under the care of multiple physicians without having a primary doctor who coordinates all their health care.

How will you address polypharmacy in the elderly?

Polypharmacy, especially in the elderly, can be addressed through several strategies. Pharmacists need to identify drug-related problems, prioritize them, reduce pill burden, eliminate unnecessary medication usage, and monitor for adverse drug-withdrawal events.

How do you control polypharmacy?

Tips for Avoiding Polypharmacy Issues in Older Adults

  1. Work diligently with patients and families to secure an accurate list of medications. …
  2. Reorganize the medication list in a patient’s EHR. …
  3. Look for inappropriate and incorrect prescriptions. …
  4. Use caution when deprescribing medications.

What is polypharmacy nursing?

Polypharmacy refers to the prescribing of many medicines for one individual. Polypharmacy is increasingly common as a result of the rise in multimorbidity, use of evidence-based clinical guidelines and care pathways, and a focus on disease prevention.

What strategies can you the nurse employ to help your patient avoid polypharmacy and maintain safety with regard to medications in the older adult?

Keep it simple. As a general rule, healthcare providers should minimize the number of medications prescribed for older adults, keep the dosing schedule as simple as possible, and limit the number of medication changes.

What does polypharmacy mean?

Polypharmacy refers to the use of multiple medications in a patient, commonly an older adult. While the most commonly used definition of polypharmacy is being on five or more medicines, definitions are variable.

What is appropriate polypharmacy?

Appropriate polypharmacy is defined as prescribing for an individual for complex conditions or for multiple conditions in circumstances where medicines use has been optimised and where the medicines are prescribed according to best evidence.

Who is most at risk for falls?

Age. Age is one of the key risk factors for falls. Older people have the highest risk of death or serious injury arising from a fall and the risk increases with age.

Is polypharmacy a risk of falls?

In people with missing walking pace, polypharmacy was associated with 90% increased risk of falls (IRR 1.90, 95% CI 1.54 to 2.36) (figure 3). Rates and rate ratios for falls comparing people with and without polypharmacy, using different definitions of polypharmacy.

Is polypharmacy a risk factor for falls?

Polypharmacy, defined as the chronic co-prescription of multiple medications, has been identified as one of the most significant factors associated with falls among older people . … Therefore, the risk of falls might not be independent of these long-term conditions.

How does polypharmacy affect nursing?

Polypharmacy increases the risk of medication errors, patient nonadherence to the prescribed medication regimen, increased morbidity and mortality, and adverse drug events (ADEs).

What are the tools available to help decrease polypharmacy?

8 Tools to Decrease Inappropriate Polypharmacy

  • Deprescribing.org. Deprescribing is considered one of the most effective ways to decrease polypharmacy. …
  • Medication Appropriateness Index. …
  • Beers Criteria. …
  • 4 and 5. …
  • ARMOR. …
  • Good Palliative-Geriatric Practice algorithm. …
  • Meds 360° from Cureatr.