Drawing as Creative Thinking (Online)

This module considers the ageing demographic, increased longevity and the impact of ageing on medication use in the context of multimorbidity and complexity. It outlines polypharmacy, deprescribing, appropriate medication use, multimorbidity and complexity, and benefits and harms associated with medication use.

This module addresses how the ageing process impacts response to medications including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. It considers how the balance of benefits and harms may change with ageing and frailty including susceptibility to adverse drug events (ADEs), adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and interactions.

This module focuses on mental health and neurological conditions, and the drugs commonly used to treat older people with those conditions. Depression, anxiety, dementia with BPSD, psychosis, Parkinsons disease, and pain are covered along with antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, anti-parkinsonian drugs, and pain medications across several classes.

This module addresses the optimisation of medicines use for cardiovascular conditions and the management of cardiovascular risk, including hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, CHD, stroke management and atrial fibrillation and the use of antithrombotic and antiplatelet medicines.

The main areas covered in this module are Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and musculoskeletal conditions, particularly osteoarthritis and associated pain. These are common chronic conditions in older people and frequently co-exist with other chronic diseases.

This module is focussed on applying the learning outcomes and principles in modules 1 to 5 through the extensive use of complex cases where options to simplify, optimise and rationalise medicines use are explored. There is an emphasis on prioritisation of health outcomes and a patient centred, interprofessional approach.