Leawood, KS - The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has announced a partnership with organizational consultant Marie Kondo aimed at tackling the widespread problem of inappropriate polypharmacy in older Americans.
"Adults over the age of 65 are more likely to have multiple medical conditions and a third of them are taking five or more prescription medications every day," AAFP president Jen Brull, MD, FAAFP explained. "More medications means a higher risk of side effects and unintended problems caused by interactions between drugs when taken together."
Inappropriate polypharmacy refers to when patients are taking excessive or unnecessary medications, and it can lead to falls, cognitive impairment, and interactions where a medication aimed at treating one condition might worsen another or even cause a new one. According to Marie Kondo, many patients are prescribed medications that don't align with their life and health goals. "Patients and providers should ask themselves, does a prescription blood pressure medication spark joy when taken or prescribed? If not, maybe it's time for a change."
One of the world's most influential people according to Time magazine, Marie Kondo invented the revolutionary KonMari Method™ as a simple but powerful organizing system. Though initially developed for dealing with household clutter and deciding which of your kids is your favorite, the system uses a criterion that is as universal as it is transformative: choose what sparks joy. Using this key metric, millions of people around the world have learned to listen to their inner voices, and Kondo expects that this will work for cholesterol lowering medications as well as it does for fondue pots and old sweaters.
"Each patient has their own unique set of experiential variables that plays a role in determining what medications spark joy," Kondo revealed during a keynote address at the AAFP Family Medicine Experience (FMX) conference in September. "And healers will find that the KonMari Method™ can bring clarity to the medication reconciliation process whenever a patient is discharged from the hospital."
The application of the KonMari Method™ to a patient's list of prescribed medications will involve gathering them all together to decide which, if any, spark joy, something Kondo describes as the feeling of warmth, positivity, peace, comfort, nostalgia, or excitement. According to the best-selling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2011), which has been published in more than 30 countries, following this philosophy will acknowledge the usefulness of each medication and help patients to learn more about themselves. "Whether it's the bedroom closet or the pillbox, clearing space can raise self-esteem, shift energy, and make room for meaningful change in our lives."
No more than two pills of the same color has always worked for me.
Also, Mr. Knutsen, as I've come to admire your writing I must say I'm shocked to see an inappropriate apostrophe in your headline.