TY  - JOUR
T1  - Reducing polypharmacy: Is hospitalization the right time?
AU  - Borne R, Cumbler E, Glasheen JJ
Y1  - 2011/05/09
N1  - 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.208
JO  - Archives of Internal Medicine
SP  - 869
EP  - 870
VL  - 171
IS  - 9
N2  - 
The authors propose an evidence-based, step-wise approach to evaluating medication regimens that has now proven effective in clinic and nursing home environments. We believe it would be interesting to extend this tool to the hospital setting. Hospitalization presents an opportune point of intervention where long-term medication management decisions could be addressed as part of the comprehensive review of medications and their indications inherent in the medication reconciliation process. Up to 1 in 5 patients discharged from the hospital have an adverse event, the majority of which are related to medications.2 The likelihood of medication discrepancies and adverse drug events is closely related to the total number of medications a patient is taking.3- 4 In addition, hospitalization has the potential to provide time for patient education about medications and discussion of how high-risk medications affect a patient's goals of care. Hospital discharge offers a natural break point for the application of this type of tool to reduce rather than expand a patient's medication list.

SN  - 0003-9926
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.208
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2011.208
ER  -