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Dear <<First Name>>, See what the members of the Canadian Deprescribing Network have been doing recently!

Dear <<First Name>>,
 

Welcome to the 2016 summer newsletter for the Canadian Deprescribing Network (CaDeN). Our membership has nearly doubled since the last newsletter. We wish a warm welcome to all our new members. If you haven't subscribed yet, click here.

Discover fun facts about deprescribing, see what we’ve been up to in the News, and meet some of our organizational partners.

Did you know?

  • deprescribing.org has had over 3700 hits since it went live in March.
     
  • The phrase deprescribing was first published by M. Woodward et al. in 2003.
     
  • Many years before M. Woodward published the word deprescribing, Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) penned these words "It is an art of no little importance to administer medicines properly: but, it is an art of much greater and more difficult acquisition to know when to suspend or altogether to omit them".
     
  • The number of results google returns when searching for "deprescribing" has doubled every year for the last 5 years. So far this year, google retrieves over 1800 new results for deprescribing.
     
  • More than 90% of patients are willing to stop a medication if their doctor says it is possible.

Deprescribing in the News


Spring has been a busy season for deprescribing in Canada. The following is a small selection of the news articles discussing deprescribing around the country

Steve Morgan and Cara Tannenbaum discussed the recent study from BC investigating sex differences in the prevalence of inappropriate prescribing in older people
“Senior women more likely over prescribed drugs than men: UBC study”

Stephen Samis from the Canadian Foundation for Health Improvement was in the Star discussing the results of their study which showed deprescribing antipsychotics in older people with dementia improved patient outcomes
“Nursing homes urged to rethink drugging people with dementia” 

(French version CFHI study at le journal de Quebec  "Plaidoyer pour réduire les médicaments en CHSLD" )


Barb Farrell and James Conklin hosted members of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Commonwealth Fund Innovators' Network to learn about the
Scalability of deprescribing guidelines in the USA   

Alan Cassels, an adviser with EvidenceNetwork.ca and pharmaceutical policy researcher talked about CaDeN with CBC News in the story
"Prescription drug use among seniors far too high"

Kimberly Wintermute, assistant professor at U of T’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Choosing Wisely Canada primary care co-lead presented the physician's perspective of prescribing benzodiazepines in the Star
"Doctor’s Notes: Sleeping pills and aging should not go hand in hand"

Have you been in the news? Let us know so we can share with our members. Justin.Turner@criugm.qc.ca
 

Building the buzz 


Members of CaDeN were invited to give presentations at the following events over the spring:
  • The American Geriatrics Society 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting. There was a session titled "Medication Targets and Evidence-Based Approaches to De-Prescribing in Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment" and a workshop "Deprescribing: Practical Steps to Reducing Polypharmacy".
     
  • The Canadian Pharmacists Association will include two sessions on deprescribing at its annual conference later this month. There will be a session on the Canadian Deprescribing Network, and a session on deprescribing using the new hypoglycemic deprescribing algorithm.
     
  • The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) optimal use working group
     
  • Health Canada's Non-Insured Health Benefits group
     
  • The National Pensioners Federation included an article on deprescribing and CaDeN in their national newsletter.

Strengthening collaborations


CaDeN committee members have been working on strengthening our collaborations. CaDeN is working together with Choosing Wisely Canada to develop a benzodiazepine deprescribing toolkit. Likewise, CaDeN is collaborating with CHFI on their antipsychotic file. 

Do you represent an organization that would like to collaborate to improve the appropriate use of medications in older Canadians? Please contact us at Justin.Turner@criugm.qc.ca 

Recognition from the Federal Minister of Health


In February, the CaDeN Core Executive wrote to the Honorary Jane Philpott, Federal Minister of Health, to inform her of the launch of CaDeN and our vision for reducing unnecessary prescriptions for older Canadian men and women by 50% by the year 2020.

Dr. Philpott replied that the federal government will be exploring opportunities to "improve the prescribing and appropriate use of drugs." The Minister also wanted to let us know that she “truly appreciates the work being accomplished by the Canadian Deprescribing Network.” 

Logo Competition


Thank you to all everyone who submitted logos for the CaDeN logo competition. The judges had a hard time picking a winner. In the end, two entries were selected for their innovation. Congratulations to Kristian and Malcolm who have been awarded the t-shirt prizes from  The BC Shared Care Polypharmacy Risk Reduction in the Elderly Initiative. The logos will be passed on to a communication consultant to be developed further as part of the Network branding.

Subscribe to our newsletters

Do you have friends or colleagues interested in deprescribing? Please invite them to join our mailing list, by visiting deprescribing.org/news/ or clicking on the following link.
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CaDeN is a group of clinicians, researchers, patients and patient advocates with an interest in promoting appropriate medication use across Canada.

CaDeN is committed to reducing the use of inappropriate medications by Canadian men and women over the age of 65 who live in Canada by 50% by 2020.
Cara Tannenbaum 
on behalf of the CaDeN Executive Committee
Principal Investigator, CIHR Partnerships for Health System Improvement Grant
Michel Saucier Endowed Chair, Geriatric Pharmacology, Health and Aging
Université de Montréal
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