Question

Define Poly-pharmacy; Explain in short response/essay format

Answer 1

olypharmacy is the practice of concurrent use of multiple medications to handle multiple health problems in a patient. For the example if the patient is suffering from CVS disorders he also develops the signs of diabetes and so many other diseases.

Such types of problems are usually seen in the case of elderly patients. In case of elderly patients the functioning of their organs are compromised. Usually their kidney and liver functioning is impaired. Hence in the case of elderly patients if they are taking multiple medicines concurrently there are chances of more and more adverse effects in them. There are chances of drug-drug interactions in this case.

Thus during the polypharmacy there is need to adjust the dose of the medications to avoid the toxicity and other related drug interactions. The pharmacist and nursing staff should ensure the rational drug therapy as per the individualization of the case is concerned. The rational drug use can be ensured by the pharmacist after considering the need of the therapy in the individual case. Hence in the elderly care each the patients should be individualized as per their specific therapies on the basis of their physiological status. The whole drug therapy should be as per the best plan selected after concerning to the specialist pharmacists.

Hence in polypharmacy can be achieved in a better and effective way.