Deprescribing

Healthcare professionals viewed deprescribing as a way to optimise treatment, reduce polypharmacy-related risks, and preserve outcomes. Deprescribing in T2D may reduce overtreatment, hypoglycaemia, falls, and medication burden while improving quality of life. Deprescribing interventions formed the majority of the revised intervention set. Medication minimalism does not mean rejecting medicine altogether. Medicines stopped in hospital are usually stopped reactively after harm occurs rather than proactively to prevent harm. Deprescribing is defined as a structured process for reducing or stopping medicines that are no longer beneficial or may be harmful. Deprescribing in the study included not starting, lowering dosage, tapering, or stopping medication. In the UK, fewer than 1% of older hospital patients have a medicine proactively deprescribed during admission. Avoiding, reducing, tapering, or stopping unnecessary medication is one route to reduce environmental impact. Polypharmacy is identified as a key patient-safety action area because it is associated with harm and death. Around half of older people entering hospital are already prescribed at least one potentially inappropriate…