What it means, why it’s necessary, when is it beneficial
At European Connected Health Alliance (ECHAlliance) we just published a video about Medication Safety. The video talks about the risks of polypharmacy, the concurrent use of many medications, which occurs more and more often due to the ageing populations in the EU.
The video was authored by a working group active within ECHAlliance, called the Medicines Optimisation Working Group (MOWG), established in 2016 and chaired by Professor Michael Scott. MOWG has authored the first in the series of 4 Medication Safety videos planned to come out in 2020.
Jana Lass, the author and presenter explains why there is more and more polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is neccessary and can be appropriate if:
- all medicines are prescribed for the purpose of achieving specific therapeutic objectives that have been agreed with the patient
- therapeutic objectives are achieved or there is a reasonable chance they will be achieved in the future;
- medication therapy has been optimised to minimize the risk of adverse drug reactions and
- the patient is able and willing to take all of the selected medicines
The authors from 7 European countries, all professionals in pharmacy or pharmacology, made sure that the content is aligned with the WHO report on “Medication Safety in Polypharmacy” issued 2017.
If you are personally involved in the topic of medicines optimisation, you can join the MOWG too. Please apply for membership at ECHAlliance and then join us in creation of the three more videos about medication safety in 2020. We also look for sponsors.
For more information please visit echalliance.com/mowg.
