Research Paper on:
Acute Care Facility and Polypharmacy Responsibility

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
to the idea that the pharmacist cannot be relied upon to catch every inconsistency. Polypharmacy is important because most people do not read books on medications, and even when they  do, the information is limited. When patients ask pharmacists questions, they often get good answers, but if they do not ask the right questions, they could end up with an  unforeseen dilemma. In reviewing a host of problems related to polypharmacy, there is an ultimate solution and that is not to leave drug related reactions up to the pharmacist or  the patient. Someone else must be responsible for making sure that patients will not react to prescriptions, particularly when patients are given a multitude of drugs, possibly from different doctors.  Issues relating to polypharmacy for a client being discharged from an acute care setting for example are purely the responsibility of the medical officer. One cannot reasonably hold a  patient accountable for his or her own medications when there are multiple schedules, potential contraindications and a myriad of side effects. In fact, there is so much potential for problems  when an individual patient will be taking a multitude of medications, someone has to be in charge to make sure that everything is properly prescribed and that the patient is  aware of any potential difficulties. First, what is polypharmacy and what are its pitfalls? Polypharmacy is defined as "the concurrent use of several drugs" ("Polypharmacy," 2002, p.PG). Many elderly  people with a multitude of chronic diseases and conditions requisite multiple, concomitant medications ( Lyder, Fennie, Chen & Fulmer, 2000-2001). Generally, 80 percent of people who are 65 or  older have at least one chronic health condition, and more than half, have more than one illness (LeSage, 1991; Larsen and Martin, 1999 as cited in Lyder & Fennie