‘Troubling’ medication reviews in the context of polypharmacy and ageing: a linguistic ethnography

Healthy ageing is a global priority. Polypharmacy (the use of 5+ medicines) amongst older people is increasing, with over one-third of adults in England, aged 80-89, prescribed at least eight medications. Although sometimes necessary, polypharmacy can be harmful; the risk of harm increases with age and number of medicines prescribed. Medication reviews are recommended as one way of reducing the potential harms of polypharmacy although evidence of clinically significant benefit of medication reviews as currently delivered is limited. What happens in medication reviews in practice is poorly understood. We used a linguistic ethnography approach to explore how medication reviews proceed and what is accomplished during these consultations. We studied 18 video-recorded medication review consultations from three general practices in England. The consultations involved patients aged 65 or older, prescribed 10+ medications ('higher risk' polypharmacy), and primary care clinicians (general practitioner or clinical pharmacist). Video-recordings were gathered as part of a wider ethnographic study investigating practices of polypharmacy in primary care between 2017 and 2021. We conducted microanalysis of consultation data, drawing on our ethnographic knowledge of the organisational, institutional and domestic contexts of polypharmacy to inform our interpretation of these interactions. Consultations were time-consuming and involved lengthy stretches of interactional trouble: non-understandings; misunderstandings; misalignments. These stretches revealed profound uncertainties as to the effectiveness of medicines in the context of multimorbidity and polypharmacy. These uncertainties seeped further into 'troubles talk' concerning patients' existential concerns relating to enduring illness, ageing and mortality. Although these existential concerns were partially articulated, clinicians and patients left such troubles talk unelaborated, unresolved and unfinished. Participants succeeded in smoothing over interactional difficulties and maintaining respectful relationships but often fell short of addressing problematic polypharmacy more directly.