Polypharmacy,
the state of being prescribed or taking more medications than
clinically appropriate, can result in a variety of negative outcomes
for both patients and healthcare facilities. These include negative
outcomes such as adverse drug effects, hospitalizations, and poor
patient health, as well as economic outcomes such as increased
drug cost and costs associated with increased utilization of health
services. Available data suggests pharmacists have the potential
to have a large effect in combating this problem through a variety
of interventions such as reducing the number of medications taken,
reducing the number of doses taken, increasing patient adherence,
preventing adverse drug reactions (ADRs), improving patient quality
of life and decreasing facility and drug costs. A small number
of studies have been performed on the pharmacists’ role in addressing
the problem of polypharmacy; however, they include various populations,
settings, and measured outcomes. Furthermore, some of the results
are conflicting. Nonetheless, this review of the available literature
concludes that pharmacist interventions can improve patient outcomes.
With the ever-increasing costs of healthcare, the substantial
cost savings for patients as well as institutions provided by
these interventions are further justification for widespread implementation
of pharmacist interventions at healthcare institutions.
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