Journal of primary health care
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Many qualitative studies examine older people's attitudes towards their medicines. Often these studies focus on the topic of medicines adherence. In contrast, this study aims to explore the attitudes of older people, aged 75 years and older, towards their regular prescription and non-prescription medicines. ⋯ Even taking into account participants' dislike of having to take prescription medicines, they were willing to accept medicines as part of their everyday routine, as they believed they were necessary. This suggests that many older people may be more willing to take their medicines than some studies on adherence in the wider population have indicated.
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Editorial Comment
Potentially inappropriate prescribing - moving from process to outcome.
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Internationally, non-medical practitioners are increasingly involved in tasks traditionally undertaken by general practitioners (GPs), such as medication review and prescribing. This study aims to evaluate GPs' perceptions of pharmacists' contributions to those services. ⋯ GPs perceived their own skills were well suited to reviewing medication and prescribing, but thought pharmacists might also have strengths and skills in these areas. In future, GPs thought that working together with pharmacists in these services might be possible in a collaborative setting.
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Multiple medications are recommended for the management of ischaemic heart disease. Unfortunately, increasing the number of medicines reduces adherence to medicines therapy. The concept of a polypill with a fixed dose combination of the common cardiovascular medicines (aspirin, statin, two blood pressure-lowering medicines) has been promoted. Patient perceptions about this concept have not been explored. ⋯ Generally the concept of the polypill was acceptable to participants, primarily because of the convenience and reduced number of tablets required daily. There were concerns about whether the polypill would be as effective and safe as the individual medicines.