Polypharmacy tackled at national level with Scottish Government guidance

摘要

POLYPHARMACY is being tackled at a national level in Scotland, with the publication of guidance by the Scottish Government. The guidance aims to improve patient care by reducing the risk of adverse drug reactions associated with polypharmacy. "Necessary polypharmacy is a feature of modern therapeutics. It is not without risk and elderly or frail patients are especially vulnerable," it states. One of the problems prescribers face is that patients frequently have a number of comorbidities, each with its own treatment guideline. Little information exists about how to fit all of these guidelines together in one patient's clinical management— a gap the polypharmacy guidance is designed to fill.