A fistful of prescriptions: is there a better way?

Since the inception of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in the late 1940s there has been a dramatic increase in the range of medicines that are available to the Australian community. The simultaneous rise in the prevalence of chronic disease means that many patients are taking multiple medicines on a long term basis, with a concommitent increased risk of drug related problems including adverse effects, and drug-drug interactions and drug-disease interactions.Oliver Frank, Chris Alderma