Professor Deborah Swinglehurst is supported by CLAHRC North Thames to investigate polypharmacy – a patient taking two or more medications – which can often mean drugs are prescribed that are not or no longer needed.
Professor Swinglehurst’s research investigates how professionals and patients organise polypharmacy, in particular, the use of multi-compartment compliance aids (MCAs or ‘dosette boxes’), and the contested evidence around their effectiveness or appropriateness for many patients.
Professor Swinglehurst, a practising GP, had her work recognised at the recent Society for Primary Care’s (SAPC) Annual Scientific Meeting in Exeter. Professor Swinglehurst, working out of Queen Mary University London, was awarded the Senior Prize for presenting her work at the meeting, which awards her a distinguished presentation slot at the NAPCRG (North America Primary Care Research Group) conference in Toronto this November.
Read Professor Swinglehursts’s abstract, entitled Organising polypharmacy: unpacking medicines, unpacking meanings
