Medication safety

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:

-138747517399000781685129476500-5124451841500 Polypharmacy

Polypharmacy refers to the concurrent use of multiple medications. It is commonly seen in elderly patients with elevated morbidity levels. Research in the United States shows that close to 40% of adults face the problem of polypharmacy (Masnoon et al, 2017). The biggest challenge created by polypharmacy is the adverse outcomes it brings on a patient’s health. The consequences include; adverse reactions to the multiple drugs taken, the increased cost spent on medication and adverse drug reactions due to their combination.
There is a need to prevent cases of polypharmacy as they pose more severe harm than good. The strategies to reduce it include;
Identification and stratification of higher risk patients for deprescribing.
Employing the use of Beers and START/STOPP Criteria to identify medications that might result in adverse reactions when combined (Masnoon et al, 2017).
Use of PRIMA-eds algorithm to diagnose and get a recommendation on which drug to use for an individual patient (Masnoon et al, 2017).
SHARING MEDICATION

Sharing medication is another challenge that leads to health deterioration in patients. Medications get prescribed for a specific patient and condition. Sharing them, therefore, counteracts the set conditions (Masnoon et al, 2017). Preventing medication sharing should be done by educating the public on how it reduces the potency of a drug and also…