Off-Label Prescribing and Polypharmacy Minimizing the Risks

Off-label prescribing and polypharmacy are commonplace in today's health care environment. Patients are treated with multiple medications obtained through multiple providers, and all too frequently, there is no collaboration amongst professionals. Nurses can address these issues by educating themselves and their patients regarding medication indications and uses, side effects, risks, and benefits. By exploring a patient's medication reconciliation, including over-the-counter agents, and identifying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved indications, as well as potential off-label uses and overlapping side effects of the medications prescribed, nurses can facilitate collaboration among prescribers to reduce polypharmacy, minimize medication side effects, and alleviate drug-drug interactions, while improving patient outcomes and quality of life. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 55(2), 17-22.]