BIOGRAPHY
Chris Cameron is a General Physician and Clinical Pharmacologist, working at Wellington Hospital. She teaches clinical pharmacology and rational use of medicines to medical students and RMOs. Initially, Chris trained as a pharmacist before undertaking her medical training, and she retains her interest in medicines safety and in particular prescribing in elderly and frail patients. ABSTRACT Tackling Polypharmacy on the Ward Round Frail elderly patients are the most likely to have significant polypharmacy and also the most likely group to suffer adverse drug events (ADEs). The difficulties facing general physicians who care for the frail elderly involve recognising when the presentation is due to an ADE and not to organic illness. The second difficulty is hesitation in stopping medications in this group. The talk examines the evidence for stopping long term medications when the patient has developed frailty, and changing the focus of care to quality, rather than quantity of life. |
