People often need to take medication to help live with their medical condition. The older we are, the more likely it is that we will need to take one or more medication. How often do you hear an older person say something like ‘I take so much medication, I am rattling like bottle of pills?’ Unfortunately, not everyone knows why they are being asked to take medicine, and many people don’t take medicines as well as they can.
At the Centre for Cardiovascular health our research involves working with policy makers, international partners, health professionals and the public to implement safe and effective medicines management. Our goal is to reduce medicines waste, avoid unnecessary prescribing and test interventions to help people to take their medicines at the right time, every time.
Key research areas
• Independent and supplementary prescribing education Mr Andrew Boyle and Dr Sonya Macvicar
• Medicines optimisation research Dr Ruth Paterson, Dr Alpana Mair, Professor Lis Neubeck
Polypharmacy Guidance Realistic Prescribing (3rd Edition, 2018)
Publications
Duffy, S., & Paterson, R. (2021). Exploring the benefits of structured medication reviews for frail older patients in advanced clinical practice. British Journal of Nursing, 30(15), 894-898. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2021.30.15.894
Mair, A., Antoniadou, E., Hendry, A., & Gabrovec, B. (2021). Appropriate polypharmacy: a barometer for integrated care. Journal of Integrated Care, 29(2), 204-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/jica-04-2020-0019
Mair, A., & Alonso, A. (2021). Polypharmacy and Integrated Care. In V. Amelung, V. Stein, E. Suter, N. Goodwin, E. Nolte, & R. Balicer (Eds.), Handbook Integrated Care (453-477). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69262-9_27
Pazan, F., Petrovic, M., Cherubini, A., Onder, G., Cruz-Jentoft, A. J., Denkinger, M., …Wehling, M. (2021). Current evidence on the impact of medication optimization or pharmacological interventions on frailty or aspects of frailty: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 77(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-020-02951-8
Wojick G., Ring N., McCulloch C., Willis D., Williams B., Kydonaki K. (2021) Understanding the complexities of antibiotic prescribing in acute hospitals: a systematic review and meta-ethnography Archives of Public Health https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00624-1(134) 79 (134)
Mair, A., Wilson, M., & Dreischulte, T. (2020). Addressing the Challenge of Polypharmacy. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 60(1), 661-681. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010919-023508
Paterson, R., Taggart, L., Hoyle, L., & Brown, M. (2020). Characteristics of diabetes medication‐taking in people with mild to moderate intellectual disability compared to those without: a mixed‐methods study. Diabetic Medicine, 37(12), 2035-2043. https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.14365
Paterson, R. (2020). Prescribing to manage obesity. Journal of Prescribing Practice, 2(7), 376-377. https://doi.org/10.12968/jprp.2020.2.7.376
Paterson, R. (2020). Long-term effects of COVID-19: impact on prescribing practice. Journal of Prescribing Practice, 2(6), 274-275. https://doi.org/10.12968/jprp.2020.2.6.274
Bousquet, J., Hellings, P. W., Agache, I., Amat, F., Annesi-Maesano, I., Mair, A., & Mobile Airways Sentinel Network (MASK) Study Group, . (2019). Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) Phase 4 (2018): Change management in allergic rhinitis and asthma multimorbidity using mobile technology. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 143(3), 864-879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2018.08.049
Bousquet, J. J., the ARIA Study Group, , Schünemann, H. J., Togias, A., Erhola, M., Hellings, P. W., …the MASK Study Group, . (2019). Next-generation ARIA care pathways for rhinitis and asthma: a model for multimorbid chronic diseases. Clinical and Translational Allergy, 9, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13601-019-0279-2
Chronic Pain Expert group, , & Scottish Government, . (2019). Quality Prescribing for Chronic Pain: A Guide for Improvement. Edinburgh: Scottish Government
Mair, A. (2019). Medication safety in polypharmacy: technical report. Geneva: WHO
Mair, A. (2019). Polypharmacy and pharmacovigilance: How they relate and why it matters. Uppsala Reports, 80, 12-13
Mair, A., Wilson, M., & Dreischulte, T. (2019). The polypharmacy programme in Scotland: realistic prescribing. Prescriber, 30(8), 10-16. https://doi.org/10.1002/psb.1779
2019 Bosnic‐Anticevich, S., Costa, E., Menditto, E., Lourenço, O., Novellino, E., Bialek, S., …Bousquet, J. (2019). ARIA pharmacy 2018 “Allergic rhinitis care pathways for community pharmacy”: AIRWAYS ICPs initiative (European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, DG CONNECT and DG Santé), POLLAR (Impact of Air POLLution on Asthma and Rhinitis), GARD Demonstration project. Allergy, 74(7), 1219-1236. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.13701
Paterson, R. (2019). Emerging evidence on the scope and safety of physiotherapy prescribing practice in the UK. Journal of Prescribing Practice, 1(1), 14-15. https://doi.org/10.12968/jprp.2019.1.1.14
Seppala, L. J., van der Velde, N., Masud, T., Blain, H., Petrovic, M., van der Cammen, T. J., …the EuGMS Special Interest Group on Pharmacology, . (2019). EuGMS Task and Finish group on Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs (FRIDs): Position on Knowledge Dissemination, Management, and Future Research. Drugs and Aging, 36(4), 299-307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-018-0622-7
Sheikh, A., De Vries, G., Anto, J. M., Annesi‐Maesano, I., Wickman, M., Hellings, P. W., …Menditto, E. (2019). Adherence to treatment in allergic rhinitis using mobile technology. The MASK Study. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 49(4), 442-460. https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.13333
Wahlich, J., Orlu, M., Mair, A., Stegemann, S., & van Riet-Nales, D. (2019). Age-Related Medicine. Pharmaceutics, 11(4), https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics11040172
World Health Organisation, . (2019). Medication Safety in Transitions of Care: Technical Report. Geneva: WHO
World Health Organization, . (2019). Medication Safety in High Risk Situations. Geneva: World Health Organization