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Polypharmacy: Impact and Effects

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Course Overview

This intermediate-level course will explore the realities for people taking multiple medications, mostly older adults.  Medication management is a challenge that can have impact on physical and mental health.  Inadvertent misuse of medication can not only affect the individual, but also the caregiver, and the greater community.  It is important that all healthcare providers gain insight into this challenge to understand the effects of polypharmacy, the impact on disease management, and effects it can have on treatment plans and long-term recovery.   Content includes aspects of multimorbidity, disease-specific polypharmacy issues, insight into hyperpolypharmacy, effects of polypharmacy on aging and quality of life, and deprescribing.    
 

Learning Outcomes 
Upon the completion of this course, the learner should be able to:

  • Differentiate multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and hyperpolypharmacy and their effects on disease management.  
  • Analyze the impact of multimorbidity and symptom and medication management.  
  • Examine effects of polypharmacy on specific age-related diseases.  
  • Relate the impact that polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy have on increasing fall risk for older adults and vulnerable populations.  
  • Examine the steps for deprescribing under the management of appropriate clinician oversight.  
  • Identify disease-specific pharmaceutical therapy that is frequently prescribed for condition management.  
  • Determine the impact of polypharmacy preceding a prescription cascade that can create additional symptoms and interfere with outcomes. 
     

About the Author/Presenter 

Joy Siegel, EdD, MBA, is a healthcare consultant and clinical health educator who has worked with health insurance providers, community-based/faith-based organizations, and universities to develop programs designed to improve well-being and health outcomes. Her areas of focus include integration of social determinants of health for improved outcomes with the Medicare population, integration of innovative technologies to improve digital health literacy, and cultural competency to address health disparities. She holds a doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership and Gerontology, and an MBA in Nonprofit Management. She attributes her commitment to her professional life to her years as a caregiver to her mother, who lived with Parkinson’s disease for 22 years. That experience showed Dr. Joy that it truly takes a holistic approach to have a meaningful life when disease strikes, impacting the patient and the caregiver. Dr. Joy’s CEU content library includes hundreds of hours on topics including Insights into Aging, Polypharmacy, Patient Satisfaction, and Fall Prevention.
 

Audience/Accreditations and Approvals 
TRC Healthcare/ NetCE 
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by TRC Healthcare/ NetCE. TRC Healthcare/NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. 
This course is designed for the following healthcare professions (select your profession for details): 
Counselor, Nursing, Pharmacy, Psychology, Social Work

Colibri Healthcare 
This course is designed for the following healthcare professions (select your profession for details): 
 Massage Therapy, Physical Therapy

If you require special accommodations, please contact Colibri Healthcare Support by clicking here: Contact Us