Tag: Polypharmacy

Empowering medical students to manage polypharmacy

Polypharmacy, commonly defined as the concurrent use of five or more medications, is a growing challenge in modern healthcare, especially among older adults with multiple long-term conditions. While advances in medicine have improved disease management, they have also led to an unintended consequence: a rising medication burden that can harm patient well-being.

Our recent study published in Clinical Practice explores how reframing polypharmacy as a chronic condition can empower future doctors to manage it more effectively. For example, polypharmacy substantially increases the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This underscores the urgent need for a shift in how we approach medication management.

Traditional medical education focuses on treating individual diseases, often leading to prescribing cascades where one drug’s side effect triggers another prescription. This cycle complicates care and worsens outcomes. We designed a three-phase educational intervention for final-year medical students. The program included interactive workshops that introduced polypharmacy risks, diagnostic tools, and case-based learning using electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical decision-support systems (CDSS). Simulated patient consultations and medication reviews with pharmacists to identify drug interactions and propose deprescribing strategies. Finally, debriefing sessions and reflective diaries help to integrate insights into future practice.

The intervention yielded significant improvements. Students’ confidence in recognizing polypharmacy as a primary diagnostic issue jumped from 32% to 86% and their knowledge of diagnostic tools increased from 3.1 to 4.7 out of 5. Standardized patient satisfaction scores also rose from 3.5 to 4.8, reflecting better communication and patient-centred care. Reflective diaries revealed a shift toward holistic thinking, with students better equipped to identify drug-induced symptoms and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

By teaching polypharmacy as a chronic condition, this model equips medical students with the skills to break prescribing cascades, enhance patient safety, improve quality of life for patients and reduce healthcare costs. The study’s small sample size limits generalisability but it offers a promising blueprint for updating medical curricula. Future research should explore the long-term impact of such new educational models on patient outcomes and clinical decision-making. Integrating patient feedback and real-world testimonials could further enrich this approach.

As healthcare evolves, empowering clinicians to manage medication burden proactively is essential for improving quality of life. This innovative training is a step toward a more holistic, patient-centred approach in medicine.

Citation: Conte, A.; Sedghi, A.; Majeed, A.; Jerjes, W. Reframing Polypharmacy: Empowering Medical Students to Manage Medication Burden as a Chronic Condition. Clin. Pract. 2025, 15, 142. https://doi.org/10.3390/clinpract15080142

Structured medication reviews for patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy

Polypharmacy, or the use of multiple medications simultaneously, is a growing concern, especially among older people. Nearly one-third of people aged over 65 years of age in the UK take five or more medications daily. This is because people are living longer and often have multiple chronic illnesses that require medication.

The Risks of Polypharmacy

When people take many medications, there’s a risk that some may not be necessary or might even be harmful. This can lead to:

  • A heavy burden of managing multiple medications daily, which is time-consuming and stressful for patients.
  • Difficulty in sticking to complex medication routines, especially for people with low health literacy or poor English language skills.
  • Increased chances of adverse drug reactions and interactions, leading to potential harm and is severe cases to hospital admission.

Given these risks, optimizing medication use is crucial, especially for those with multiple health issues.

Medication Reviews (MRs)

One way to address the problems of polypharmacy is through medication reviews. This process involves a detailed assessment of a patient’s medications to ensure they are appropriate, safe, and effective. However, studies show mixed results on their effectiveness. While they may improve medication-related outcomes, they don’t always significantly impact overall health or quality of life.

The Rise of Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs)

Recognising the limitations of traditional medication reviews, structured medication reviews (SMRs) have been introduced. SMRs offer a more comprehensive approach, focusing on:

  • Tailoring medication plans to the individual needs, preferences, and circumstances of the patient.
  • Including patients and their families in decision-making about their medications.
  • Often involving a multidisciplinary team for complex cases to ensure a thorough review.

The Impact of COVID-19 and Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of technology in healthcare, including remote care options like phone, video, or online consultations. This shift aims to provide convenient, rapid access to healthcare and could improve the delivery of medication reviews. However, it’s still unclear how effective remote SMRs are compared to in-person reviews.

The Need for Further Research

While SMRs show promise, more research is needed to understand:

  • How well SMRs work for different patient populations, especially those in primary care.
  • The impact of remote delivery of SMRs on patient outcomes.
  • How SMRs can best be implemented to improve health outcomes for those with complex medical needs.

Conclusion

Structured Medication Reviews represent a significant advance in managing polypharmacy, aiming to tailor medication plans to individual needs and involving patients in the process. However, ongoing research and adaptation, especially with the rise of remote healthcare, are necessary to maximise their benefits and ensure they meet the needs of diverse patient populations in the UK and elsewhere.

Structured medication reviews for adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy in primary care: a systematic review protocol. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/5/e082825.full

Addressing polypharmacy in older people

A major challenge in healthcare, particularly for older people, is that patients are ending up on many medicines, termed ‘polypharmacy’. Polypharmacy can be either ‘appropriate’ or ‘problematic.’ With the latter, prescribing professions are traditionally better at starting medicines than stopping them (for a variety of reasons), which means that patients are too often left with problematic polypharmacy that can lead to side effects, interactions, and an inability to manage to take them all.

The NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Northwest London (CLAHRC NWL) have an active Medicines Optimisation work stream. A lot of work has been done around the need for medication review and stopping unnecessary medicines when problematic polypharmacy occurs. The term ‘deprescribing’ has emerged strongly in the literature and CLAHRC NWL have put together what we think is the first journal issue devoted to the topic of deprescribing.

The themed issue is particularly noteworthy due to the international contributorship, including key thinkers on this topic from Australia, Ireland, Israel, and UK. Barry Jubraj, Honorary Pharmacist for Medicines Optimisation at CLAHRC NWL, co-edited this themed issue and the CLAHRC NWL team contributed to several papers, including outlining a strategy for educating students and junior clinicians about the need to undertake medication reviews. This is a novel piece of work covering an issue close to the working practice of healthcare professionals in Imperial and beyond; the web version is currently available and the print version is forthcoming.

Perspectives on the management of polypharmacy

A paper published in the journal BMC Family Practice discusses the management of polypharmacy (the concurrent use of multiple medications by one individual). Because of ageing populations, the growth in the number of people with multi-morbidity and greater compliance with disease-specific guidelines, polypharmacy is becoming increasingly common.

Although the correct drug treatment in patients with complex medical problems can improve clinical outcomes, quality of life and life expectancy, polypharmacy is also associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events, some severe enough to result in hospital admission and even death. Hence, having systems in place to ensure that medications are started only when there is a suitable indication, ensuring patients are fully aware of the benefits and complications that may arise from their treatment, and reviewing patients regularly to ensure their medication regime remains appropriate, are essential.

The development and rapid uptake of electronic patient records – particularly in primary care settings where the majority of prescribing takes place – makes monitoring of patients more straightforward than in the past; and allows identification of sub-groups of patients at particularly high risk of adverse drug events and complications. It also facilitates ‘deprescribing’ the process by which medications are reviewed and stopped if not clinically beneficial.

In recent years, we have also seen the development of smartphone ‘apps’ to improve communication between patients and healthcare professionals, improve people’s understanding of their conditions and their treatment, and maintain a record of changes made to patient’s medication. In the longer term, developments such as the introduction of artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems also have the potential to improve prescribing and minimise the risks from polypharmacy. Finally, there is considerable scope to improve the quality of prescribing and reduce risks from poly-pharmacy using non-medical groups such as pharmacists, specialist nurses and physician assistants.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-017-0642-0