Optimising Medications - Reducing Inappropriate Polypharmacy and Enhancing Patient Care
11.15 - 12.30
The impact of polypharmacy coupled with an increasingly frail and older population living with multiple co-morbidities and resultant complex care needs is widely acknowledged. A local day of care audit demonstrated that 45% of all acute admissions had one, or more medicines contributing to their hospital presentation. Increasing frailty is a driver for optimising medications. Medication reviews undertaken within our acute frailty team provide an opportunity for shared decision-making, person-centred care and reducing inappropriate polypharmacy.
Speakers
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Alison McCulloch
Consultant in Medicine for the Elderly, NHS Tayside
Alison is a Consultant Geriatrician working within Acute Medicine for the Elderly in Ninewells Hospital.
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Karen Lowdon
Specialist Clinical Pharmacist, Acute Frailty Team and Medicine for the Elderly, NHS Tayside
Karen registered as a qualified pharmacist in 1997 and has chosen to spend her career as a hospital pharmacist gaining a vast and varied wealth of knowledge and experience over the past 25 years in NHS Tayside.