News

The STrategic Optimization of Prescription Medication Use in Patients on HemoDialysis (STOPMed-HD) research program, headed by Dr. Marisa Battistella at Toronto’s University Health Network and the University of Toronto, has been working hard since 2016 to design a deprescribing intervention to aid clinicians and educate patients.

This intervention aims to create a safe, effective, and accessible deprescribing program that can be employed in hemodialysis clinics across the country to help patients manage medications.

The Kidney Foundation of Canada is proud to support this project and others that aim to improve the quality of life for kidney patients.

So, what is deprescribing?

Deprescribing is a medication management method aimed at lowering a dose or stopping a medication that may no longer be effective or may even be causing harm. For patient on hemodialysis, who are often on many medications, this can be particularly important as it is more difficult for medications to be removed from the body, leading to more side effects.

The process of deprescribing involves weighing the risks and benefits of stopping or continuing a medication, such as side effects, a patient’s pill burden, or drug-drug interactions. Ultimately, the decision to deprescribe is a decision made between patients and their healthcare team. However, adopting a reliable, evidence-based can provide much needed support for both clinicians and patients to manage deprescribing safely and effectively.

Understanding the patient experience around medication management, the STOP-Med-HD team created deprescribing toolkits for both patients and clinicians. Patients can find educational resources about the deprescribing process and common medications for hemodialysis that may be deprescribed. Patient resources can be found at STOPMed-HD - For Patients (stopmedhd.ca).

For clinicians, they designed a thorough deprescribing manual containing deprescribing decision-making aids, evidence tables, and monitoring forms, to help facilitate the program. Clinician resources can be found at STOPMed-HD - For Clinicians (stopmedhd.ca).

Starting as a single pilot study in Toronto and after years of development, the program is now being rolled out in Halifax, Calgary, and Victoria as the first stage of their implementation strategy. This will help the group evaluate the real-world function and impact of the program and determine long term strategies for broad implementation to ensure the program is accessible to patients who need it.

For more information, please check out this summary infographic: Deprescribing infographic

Check out this informative video of hemodialysis patients discussing their experiences managing medications: Patients on hemodialysis discuss how less is more when managing medications (youtube.com)