• Monica Hazra, Hiroyuki Uchida, Beth Sproule, Gary Remington, Takefumi Suzuki, and David C Mamo.
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2011 Dec 1;65(7):676-8.

AbstractThe objective was to examine effects of active interventions on physician's prescribing of antipsychotic polypharmacy. Prescriptions for patients with schizophrenia at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada were collected in 2006 (n = 648) and 2008 (n = 778). During the intervening period, a pharmacist monitored prescriptions with antipsychotic polypharmacy and contacted corresponding prescribers to provide education on risks of polypharmacy. Moreover, educational sessions on polypharmacy were presented to inpatient and outpatient teams. A three-fold decrease in the prevalence of antipsychotic polypharmacy was observed between 2006 (18.3%) and 2008 (6.6%). Thus, active monitoring of prescriptions with educational interventions could reduce antipsychotic polypharmacy.© 2011 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2011 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

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