Negotiating “Unmeasurable Harm and Benefit”: Perspectives of General Practitioners and Consultant Pharmacists on Deprescribing in the Primary Care Setting
Author(s)
Anderson, Kristen
Foster, Michele
Freeman, Christopher
Luetsch, Karen
Scott, Ian
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2017
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The use of multiple medicines, known as polypharmacy, poses a risk of harm that is greatest in older adults with multimorbidity. Deprescribing aims to improve health outcomes through ceasing medicines that are no longer necessary or appropriate due to changing clinical circumstances and patient priorities. General practitioners (GPs) and consultant pharmacists (CPs) are well positioned to facilitate deprescribing in primary care in partnership with older adults who present with inappropriate polypharmacy. In this article, we explore GPs’ and CPs’ views about inappropriate polypharmacy, the reasoning they apply to deprescribing ...
View more >The use of multiple medicines, known as polypharmacy, poses a risk of harm that is greatest in older adults with multimorbidity. Deprescribing aims to improve health outcomes through ceasing medicines that are no longer necessary or appropriate due to changing clinical circumstances and patient priorities. General practitioners (GPs) and consultant pharmacists (CPs) are well positioned to facilitate deprescribing in primary care in partnership with older adults who present with inappropriate polypharmacy. In this article, we explore GPs’ and CPs’ views about inappropriate polypharmacy, the reasoning they apply to deprescribing in primary care, and identify factors that support or inhibit this process. Using focus group methodology and the Framework Method for thematic analysis, two major themes were discerned from the data—working through uncertainty and risk perception as a frame of reference. The findings provide important insights when devising methods for advancing and supporting deprescribing in primary care.
View less >
View more >The use of multiple medicines, known as polypharmacy, poses a risk of harm that is greatest in older adults with multimorbidity. Deprescribing aims to improve health outcomes through ceasing medicines that are no longer necessary or appropriate due to changing clinical circumstances and patient priorities. General practitioners (GPs) and consultant pharmacists (CPs) are well positioned to facilitate deprescribing in primary care in partnership with older adults who present with inappropriate polypharmacy. In this article, we explore GPs’ and CPs’ views about inappropriate polypharmacy, the reasoning they apply to deprescribing in primary care, and identify factors that support or inhibit this process. Using focus group methodology and the Framework Method for thematic analysis, two major themes were discerned from the data—working through uncertainty and risk perception as a frame of reference. The findings provide important insights when devising methods for advancing and supporting deprescribing in primary care.
View less >
Journal Title
Qualitative Health Research
Volume
27
Issue
13
Subject
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Human society
Psychology