POLYPHARMACY AND QUALITY PRESCRIBING IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS – A CASE STUDY OF NYERI PROVINCIAL GENERAL HOSPITAL
POLYPHARMACY AND QUALITY PRESCRIBING IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS – A CASE STUDY OF NYERI PROVINCIAL GENERAL HOSPITAL
BY DR. ANNIE WAMAITHA MWANIKI
REG NO: U51/60276/2013
Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy School of Pharmacy, University of Nairobi
A Thesis Submitted in Partial fulfilment of the Requirements for Degree of Master of Pharmacy in Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance in the School of Pharmacy of the University of Nairobi
November 2014
Polypharmacy also occurs when the doctor changes from one medicine to another which is in the same therapeutic class, but the patient continues to take the first medicine in addition to the newly prescribed one (Wilson, 2009). For example a patient is taking pantoprazole 20mg then the doctor prescribes esomeprazole 40mg and the patient continues to take the two despite both being proton pump inhibitors. This situation is worsened by the lack of patient education where doctors do not inform their patients and patients do not ask questions.
Many drugs that were once obtainable only with a prescription, such as Losec ® (omeprazole) and Claritin® (loratidine), are now readily available over the counter, and their use is on the rise.
