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This isn't just for doctors, it's also for patients and that includes most of us. My DH and I are avoiding the whole polypharmacy thing, but we sure know a lot of people who are caught up in that snare. This came today in my Rxisk e-newsletter from Dr. David Healy. ( RxISK.org)
Quote from article:
"Did you know that reducing your medication burden may be the single best thing you can do to improve your quality of life? Adverse drug events are now a leading cause of hospitalization, disability, and death, all at great human and financial cost. Seniors are particularly vulnerable, as aging affects our ability to process medications and our resistance to adverse effects. Seniors are likely to be on multiple medications for various chronic conditions, putting them most at risk. More than 40% of US adults age 65 and over take five or more prescription medications.
Introducing TaperMD TaperMD is a revolutionary solution to the problems of managing multiple medications in older adults. Developed with McMaster University, we built it to help patients, doctors, and pharmacists work as a team to address the serious problems of polypharmacy and drug side effects, and to fit in with normal consultation processes and flow. It is currently in clinical trials in Canada and Australia."