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AVOIDING HARM: Tackling Problematic Polypharmacy through strengthening Expert Generalist Practice
  • Joanne Reeve
Joanne Reeve
University of Hull

Corresponding Author:joanne.reeve@hyms.ac.uk

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Abstract

Problematic polypharmacy is a growing challenge. Medication that is intended to improve patients’ health and wellbeing is instead becoming part of the problem. The way we practice medicine has become one of the drivers for the problems. Dealing with the challenge will need us to think differently about how we do clinical care. A 2013 Kings Fund report stated that tackling problematic polypharmacy requires us to actively build a principle of ‘compromise’ in to the way we use medicines. There are implications for how we consult and make decisions with patients, in how we design health practice and systems to support that decision making, and in our understanding of the process of research – how we generate the knowledge that informs practice. This review considers the current state of play in all three areas and identifies some of the work still need to do in order to generate the practice-based evidence needed to tackle this most challenging problem. Finding a way to redesign practice to address problematic polypharmacy could offer a template for tackling other related complex issues facing medical practice such as multimorbidity, chronic pain and complex mental health.
06 Jun 2020Submitted to British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
08 Jun 2020Submission Checks Completed
08 Jun 2020Assigned to Editor
10 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
26 Jun 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
29 Jun 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
05 Aug 20201st Revision Received
06 Aug 2020Submission Checks Completed
06 Aug 2020Assigned to Editor
06 Aug 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
06 Aug 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
17 Aug 2020Editorial Decision: Accept
09 Sep 2020Published in British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 10.1111/bcp.14531