Giving Compass' Take:

• Futurity reports on an electronic tool called MedSafer that could help doctors and pharmacists reduce medication overload among elderly patients.

• How can funders help replicate or expand tools like this? What other opportunities exist for technology to improve healthcare? 

• Here's an article on how pharmacists can help solve medication errors. 


Elderly people often take multiple prescription medications for different health conditions. While some medications are needed, polypharmacy and medication overload can be costly and even harmful. However, reducing the number of potentially inappropriate medications that seniors take on a daily basis is an ongoing challenge.

“A prescription check-up is a complex process for interprofessional teams and often involves complicated decision-making,” says Emily McDonald, first author of the study, scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), and physician in the Division of General Internal Medicine at MUHC.

“In addition, cross-referencing multiple medications and medical conditions for a large number of patients requires time and resources that are not always available.”

IS THIS PATIENT ON TOO MANY MEDICATIONS?
MedSafer makes it easier for doctors and pharmacists to quickly review the drugs a hospitalized senior is taking and recommend the ones the medical team may want to consider reducing or stopping.

Read the full article on MedSafer by Fabienne Landry at Futurity.