ABSTRACT
The negative attributes of polypharmacy should be known by nurses while reviewing and administering medications. We studied the nurses' opinion on the negative attributes of polypharmacy. Nurses working in a tertiary care teaching hospital participated in this cross-sectional study, conducted over 3 months, by responding to a self-administered questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to analyze association between socio-demographic characteristics and items in the study. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Increased drug interactions scored the highest [98.1%], followed by increased adverse drug effects [81.9%] among the negative effects of polypharmacy. No difference was observed in the opinions between male and female nurses or among nurses of varying duration of nursing experience. Nurses with 5-10 years of experience opined increase in non-compliance to prescribed medication regimen and increase in financial burden also as negative attributes. There is a lacuna in the knowledge about ill effects of polypharmacy among nurses, which can be filled in by Continuing educational programs and workshops