Deprescribing: When and how to stop a medicine

Polypharmacy is commonplace and may have resulted from the implementation of evidence-based guidelines in the care of an increasingly older population with mutiple morbidities. Not all prescribing remains appropriate for individual patients. This article explains the risks of polypharmacy, introduces the concept of ‘deprescribing’ and advises on how to approach deprescribing, a skill all prescribers need to master.