Medication Management in Dementia Care
Summary
Medication management in dementia care encompasses the coordinated processes of prescribing, dispensing, administration, adherence monitoring and review of pharmacotherapy for individuals experiencing cognitive decline. The progressive nature of dementia, often complicated by comorbidities, leads to complex regimens and heightened risk of adverse drug events. Informal carers, community pharmacists, physicians and nursing teams work collaboratively to tailor treatments, conduct regular medication reviews and implement adherence support strategies. Effective management requires clear communication, person-centred planning and the use of tools to track polypharmacy and functional capacity. Globally, research has underscored the importance of multidisciplinary frameworks and educational interventions that empower both patients and carers, reduce medication-related harm and optimise quality of life across care settings.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Medication Management in Dementia Care publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in medication management in dementia care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Polypharmacy: The concurrent use of multiple medications by a patient, increasing the risk of drug interactions and adverse effects.
Medication adherence: The extent to which patients take medications as prescribed, including timing, dosage and frequency.
Medication review: A structured evaluation of a patient’s medicines with the goal of optimising treatment, minimising harm and improving outcomes.
Informal carer: A family member or friend who provides unpaid support and assistance with daily care tasks, including medication management.
Medicines pathway: The sequence of steps involved in medication use, from prescribing and dispensing through to administration and monitoring.
References
- Medication management information priorities of people living with dementia and their carers: a scoping review. Age and Ageing (2024).
- Medication Decision-Making and the Medicines’ Pathway in Nursing Homes: Experiences and Expectations of Involvement of Residents and Informal Caregivers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2023).
- Impact of interventions by a community pharmacist on care burden for people with dementia: development and randomized feasibility trial of an intervention protocol. Pilot and Feasibility Studies (2022).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.