Health care professionals' attitudes towards deprescribing in older patients with limited life expectancy: a systematic review.

AIMS: The aim of this systematic review was to explore health care professionals' attitudes towards deprescribing in older people with limited life expectancy.

METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted from inception to December 2017 using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL. Studies were included if they specifically concerned older people (≥65 years) with limited life expectancy, including those residing in any kind of aged care facility, or were based on representative patient profiles. Results were analyzed inspired by Joanna Briggs Institute's method for synthesis of qualitative data. Studies were characterized using a checklist for reporting of qualitative research.

RESULTS: Eight studies were included. Six studies explored health care professionals' views on deprescribing in general while two studies focused specifically on psychotropics. All eight studies explored the views of physicians, mostly general practitioners, while three studies also considered other health care professionals. Four themes related to health care professionals' attitudes towards deprescribing were identified: 1) Patient and relative involvement, 2) The importance of teamwork, 3) Health care professionals' self-assurance and skills, and 4) The impact of organizational factors. Within each of these themes, 3-4 subthemes were identified and analyzed.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results imply that health care professionals' decisions to engage in deprescribing activities with older people with limited life expectancy depend on multiple factors which are highly interdependent. Consequently, there is an urgent need for more research on how to approach deprescribing in clinical practice within this population.