which does not attempt to reduce the number of medicines but rather reduce the number of dose forms and administration times. It is important to acknowledge that medication use does not appear to be influenced by paper-based or electronic prescribing. Deprescribing refers to reducing the number of medications that a person is prescribed and includes the identification and discontinuance of medications when the benefit no longer outweighs the harm. In elderly patients, this can commonly be done as a patient becomes more frail and treatment focus needs to shift from preventative to palliative. Deprescribing was also deemed feasible and effective in other settings such as residential care, communities and hospitals. This preventative measure should be considered for anyone who exhibits one of the following: (1) a new symptom or adverse event arises, (2) when the person develops an end-stage disease, (3) if the combination of drugs is risky, or (4) if stopping the drug does not alter the disease trajectory. Several tools exist to help physicians decide when to deprescribe and what medications can be added to a pharmaceutical regimen. The Beers Criteria and the STOPP/START criteria help identify medications that have the highest risk of adverse drug events (ADE) and drug-drug interactions. The Medication appropriateness tool for comorbid health conditions during dementia (MATCH-D) is the only tool available specifically for people with dementia, and also cautions against polypharmacy and complex medication regimens. Barriers faced by both physicians and people taking the medications have made it challenging to apply deprescribing strategies in practice. For physicians, these include fear of consequences of deprescribing, the prescriber's own confidence in their skills and knowledge to deprescribe, reluctance to alter medications that are prescribed by specialists, the feasibility of deprescribing, lack of access to all of patients' clinical notes, and the complexity of having multiple providers. For patients who are prescribed or require the medication, barriers include attitudes or beliefs about the medications, inability to communicate with physicians, fears and uncertainties surrounding deprescribing, and influence of physicians, family, and the media. Barriers can include other health professionals or carers, such as in residential care, believing that the medicines are required. The effectiveness of specific interventions to improve the appropriate use of polypharmacy such as pharmaceutical care and computerised decision support is unclear. This is due to low quality of current evidence surrounding these interventions. High quality evidence is needed to make any conclusions about