Welcome to the first, the best, (well, the only) deprescribing blog on the internet!
We hope to be your new best deprescribing friends and supply you with a steady stream of deprescribing content and analysis.
The deprescribing mindset has long existed on the fringes of the medical and science community. Many of us may feel, at times, that we are lone wolves in our departments and at conferences and meetings, eating our lunch in isolation, with our usual statements about “lack of evidence”, “time to benefit”, “treatment burden”, and “goals and preferences” falling on deaf ears.
We might retreat to Twitter, the deprescribers’ safe haven. Yes, Twitter is a beacon of light that reminds us we are not alone in this world, but it sometimes leaves us wanting to know more. More about what is going on in the deprescribing community, more about that particular study that was briefly mentioned, and more about what Dr. Barb Farrell is up to.
We need more.
Enter the deprescribing.org blog!
What can I expect from this blog?
We hope that the deprescribing.org blog will serve as a virtual community of deprescribing research. A community where we can openly share and talk about our work, our motivations, our mindset, and our aims, and open a dialogue between engaged people in the field.
The blog will feature guest blog posts from deprescribing researchers all over the world. Guest bloggers will write on a range of deprescribing topics, such as past, ongoing, or future deprescribing work, or reflections on a particular deprescribing topic.
We will also feature interviews, asking the tough questions to deprescribing researchers of all disciplines.
Finally, we will have a deprescribing literature roundup, where we will summarize recently published as well as notable papers on deprescribing. Exciting, right? Right?
Who are we?
We are Carina Lundby and Wade Thompson. We are both pharmacists and Ph.D. students at the University of Southern Denmark and Hospital Pharmacy Funen at Odense University Hospital in Denmark. We will be the ones coordinating and running this blog.
Carina: After having finished my MSc in pharmacy, I started as a research assistant in a newly established research unit in early 2017. As the team was (very!) small, I was lucky enough to be part of shaping the course of the unit’s research. And of course, we quickly decided that deprescribing should constitute one of our main research areas. Since then, I have been doing research in deprescribing, with my primary focus being on older people with limited life expectancy/at the end of life.
Wade: With a burning love for aggressive treatment targets and amitriptyline, one day I found myself in Barb Farrell’s geriatric day hospital office for a clinical rotation. I would never be the same again. I have since worked as a pharmacist in long-term care and primary care clinics, while also conducting deprescribing research. I moved to Denmark to pursue my Ph.D. in 2017. I was part of the team that developed the Bruyère Evidence-Based Deprescribing Guidelines, and also did my MSc with that same group.
Carina and Wade: We work together on several deprescribing projects, Wade trying to apply clinical pharmacy experience to the projects, and Carina fighting for the perspectives and attitudes of patients and relatives as well as that of the healthcare providers.
What are we doing here?
Honestly, we don’t quite know. Basically, we are just two Ph.D. students, soon-to-be postdocs, trying our best to keep up with the literature and to stay up-to-date on all things deprescribing.
We realized, however, that deprescribing is a relatively small world, and is spread across different countries, disciplines, and specialties. There is a lot of great stuff going on but it can be a bit hard for everyone to connect. We hope this blog is a way to facilitate that connection. So here we are.
What now?
We have a plan. It’s all lined up. A virtual bouquet of deprescribing-type stuff. Every other week, we will be back with a new post. But eventually, we will run out of (good) ideas. To avoid us having to tap into the bad ones, please give us any feedback or suggestions you might have. Do you have any ideas for content? Or would you like to author a guest blog post? If so, get a hold of us.
We are looking forward to connecting with everyone!
Carina and Wade
The deprescribing blog is hosted by pharmacists and PhD students, Carina Lundby and Wade Thompson. We hope to be your new best deprescribing friends and supply you with deprescribing content and analysis on a biweekly basis. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or comments, or would like to contribute.
carina.lundby.olesen@rsyd.dk (Twitter: @CarinaLundby)
wthompson@health.sdu.dk (Twitter: @wadddee)
