Abstract
Ageism in medication use decreases older persons' well-being and quality of life and increases health care utilization and costs. This policy brief outlines several strategies that may be considered to combat ageism in medication use and its widespread negative consequences. The strategies are the following:
1) Establish a global action plan (designate an international organization to take a leading and coordinating role; involve all stakeholders; take a multidisciplinary, intersectoral, and systems approach; ensure affordability, accessibility, and availability of care and medications; address the needs of older adults facing multiple forms of discrimination; tailor strategies to the local contexts; designate coordinators at the national and organizational levels);
2) Enhance integration and coordination between health and social care and across different levels of health care (deliver team-based, multidisciplinary, integrated, and coordinated care; ensure interoperability of electronic health records);
3) Implement a quality and safety perspective (integrate and implement patient safety in all policies and programmes; establish a safety culture; establish open reporting culture; take an active and proactive approach; use international indicators);
4) Empower and engage older patients (involve patients in shared decision-making; provide health and medication-related information; provide decision aids and question prompt lists; launch campaigns to raise awareness about ageism in medication use and medication safety, and to promote a life-course perspective, a healthy lifestyle, and the benefits of non-pharmacological strategies); and
5) Improve education and training of care professionals (develop comprehensive curricula; implement interprofessional and intergenerational education and training; develop and revise clinical guidelines to meet older persons' needs and preferences; translate clinical guidelines into computerized clinical decision support systems, prescribing algorithms and alerts). By tackling ageism in medication use, policies, strategies, and actions can enhance the lives of older people and, in turn, their contribution to society.