The student perspective on medication review and deprescribing

Research into the practice of medication review is developing across the world in response to the ever-increasing burden of inappropriate polypharmacy. It is thought that equipping undergraduates and novice practitioners with the education, training, and support to participate in the medication review process could lead to long-term shifts in practice by strengthening the systems for reducing medication errors and avoidable medication.

In a study published by Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, Picker explores how aware pharmacy and medical undergraduates are on medication reviews, deprescribing and polypharmacy, in order to inform improvement strategies. To do this, all final-year medical and pharmacy students at a London (UK) university were invited to complete a short questionnaire survey. This helped to understand their basic knowledge on the topic and how to potentially create future alignment between education and professional development syllabi in a way that combines the variety of professional perspectives.