Impact of Palliative Care Clinical Pharmacists’ Deprescribing Efforts in Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Background: Palliative care (PC) patients are at high risk of polypharmacy, thereby imposing substantial burdens on patients, including increased pill burden, adverse drug events, falls, and even death. Studies show that most interventions to reduce unnecessary medications involve pharmacist recommendations. Deprescribing (DP) is an integral aspect of the role of pharmacists on PC teams. There is no literature to describe deprescribing opportunities among all PC patients when screened in a systematic fashion.