Deprescribing: Reducing Harm, Enhancing Care
Carla Matos and Cindy Pinheiro
AbstractIntroduction: Polypharmacy carries the potential for increased risk and severity of adverse reactions. Deprescribing may reduce adverse events and possibly hospitalizations, although evidence on hard outcomes such as mortality is mixed. As the medication experts responsible for the close monitoring of their patient, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists play a crucial role in the process of medication deprescribing. They are involved in the therapeutic process and contribute to the appropriate use of medications and the proper discontinuation of those that no longer benefit the patient or are harmful. This role is particularly important for vulnerable groups, such as older people, who often take chronic medication.
Objective: This study aims to review the literature on polypharmacy and the importance of suspending unnecessary or harmful medications in older people, emphasizing the role of healthcare professionals in the process.
Methods: A narrative review of recent publications (articles from 2023 to 2025) in Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases, addressing polypharmacy and deprescribing in older adults was conducted.
Conclusions: A multidisciplinary team including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists plays a pivotal role in this process by reviewing patients’ therapeutic regimens, identifying inappropriate medications, and monitoring the withdrawal process. Their intervention can support more appropriate medication use, may improve patients’ quality of life, and has the potential to reduce healthcare costs.
Rambam Maimonides Med J 2026;17(2):e0015