We would like to acknowledge the concern of Drs Eppler and Miller regarding statin use in older patients [BCMJ 2013;55:184 [11], BCMJ 2013;55:273 [12]].
This and other issues with respect to prescribing in the elderly are currently being addressed by the Shared Care Committee Polypharmacy in the Elderly Initiative (www.bcma.org/polypharmacy-initiative [13]). Phase 1 of the polypharmacy initiative—prototyping in eight residential care facilities—will soon be complete.
In the fall, the initiative will be offered to residential care sites throughout the province (Phase 1a), and initial steps have recently been taken to include acute care and transitions, in collaboration with the Shared Care Transitions in Care Initiative (Phase 2). Any physicians who would like further information about how to bring this initiative to your area are encouraged to contact us at shared_care@bcma.bc.ca [14].
—Keith White, MD
—Chris Rauscher, MD
—Mhezbin Dharssi
Shared Care Polypharmacy Initiative
Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/september-2013
[2] https://bcmj.org/author/keith-j-white-md
[3] https://bcmj.org/author/chris-rauscher-md
[4] https://bcmj.org/author/mhezbin-dharssi
[5] https://bcmj.org/node/4910
[6] https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-statin-use-older-patients-0
[7] https://bcmj.org/printmail/letters/re-statin-use-older-patients-0
[8] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-statin-use-older-patients-0
[9] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Re: Statin use in older patients&url=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-statin-use-older-patients-0&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton
[10] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B
[11] https://bcmj.org/issues/re-consensus-guidelines-residential-care
[12] https://bcmj.org/issues/re-statin-use-older-patients
[13] http://www.bcma.org/polypharmacy-initiative
[14] mailto:shared_care@bcma.bc.ca
[15] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176
[16] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop