We love working with physicians, registered nurses, geriatric care managers and pharmacists as part of a client's care team.  But it happens far less often than we think is most helpful for the client. Everyone is so busy, few see it as their mandate as healthcare professionals -- though we certainly do.  Inter-disciplinary communication and teamwork isn't just a "good thing" -- it is absolutely vital.

Here is a powerful example of why real teamwork is necessary, and why we at CCC go the extra mile to be in touch, and to put people in contact with other healthcare professionals who can eliminate problems that stem from a lack of teamwork elsewhere. And that is the epidemic of over-prescribing of medications for the elderly. Too many specialists not talking with one another, each prescribing medications that are then not adequately reviewed by the patient's primary care physician result in lots more drugs than are needed.

Now, we at CCC are not in a position to make such judgments about whether any particular person has a problem with over-prescribed medication.  We instead point to both research data and anecdotal information we hear from those who are in a position to investigate such matters. For example: a study recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (see the study abstract here) showed that it was possible to safely and significantly reduce the use of medications in elderly patients living in the community (as opposed to in care facilities). In fact, almost all patients in the study had nearly 60% of their medications safely discontinued, with very, very few needing to have these drugs re-prescribed. As a result, 88% of patients reported improved health! "Polypharmacy itself should be conceptually perceived as 'a disease,' with potentially more serious complications than those of the diseases these different drugs have been prescribed for," the authors write.

If you or your loved one are on multiple medications prescribed by multiple physicians, it is worth getting a professional review of their medication list.  You can also sit with the primary care physician and go over every drug with them. Good preparation for such a meeting would also be reviewing the drug list with your pharmacist.

(Thanks to our eagle-eyed caregiver, Mary Ann, who forwarded me the link to this polypharmacy study!)