Quality Use of Medicines in People Living with DementiaTop 10 Priorities

1. How can shared decision making about medicines be achieved between healthcare professionals and people living with dementia and their carers?
2. What are effective ways to ensure that healthcare professionals have the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve safe effective and appropriate medicine use in people living with dementia?
3. How can communication between healthcare professionals about medicines be optimised, especially at transitions of care, to achieve multi-disciplinary care for people living with dementia? 
4. Which medicines are potentially harmful or unnecessary in people living with dementia and should be stopped? And how can deprescribing (cessation of harmful and/or unnecessary medicines) be achieved in people living with dementia?
5. When, how and in who should medicines be used to manage pain in people living with dementia?
6. How can people living with dementia and their carers be supported to manage medicines safely at home?
7. When and how should medicines be used to treat changed behaviours (previously referred to as behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia)? Including for different types of dementia. And how to safely and effectively reduce the use of antipsychotics (for changed behaviours) in people living with dementia?
8. How can residential aged care facilities best achieve safe, effective and appropriate medicine use in residents with dementia?
9. When, how and in who should medicines be used to treat depression and anxiety in people living with dementia?
10. What is the optimal model for medicine reviews to achieve safe, effective and appropriate medicine use in people living with dementia? Including who should be involved, how often should reviews be conducted, and what follow-up is needed?

The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop: 

11. What is the best way to monitor for benefits (or lack of benefits) and harms (side effects and other risks) of medicines in people living with dementia? 
12. Which medicines impair function and activities of daily living in people living with dementia? 
13. Which medicines worsen memory and thinking in people living with dementia or speed up decline of dementia? 
14. How can healthcare professionals best educate people living with dementia and their carers about their medicines?
15. How can advanced care plans be used to inform decisions about medicines when the individual no longer has capacity to express their wishes? 
16. What are effective ways to ensure that healthcare workers in residential aged care have the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve safe, effective and appropriate medicine use in people living with dementia? 
    
    

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For full details of all of the questions identified by this PSP, please see the document below.