I am interested in TAPER. How can I offer this to my patients?
Contact the TAPER team to learn more about how you can bring TAPER to your community. A number of resources are available to help you get started, including an implementation guide, operations manual, and training videos.
How long will this take?
Family doctors and pharmacists will each have one appointment with the patient. The pharmacist’s appointment will take 1 hour and the doctor’s appointment will take 30 minutes. You will also use TaperMD to guide and track the patient’s appointments, medication changes and progress, depending on the patient’s medical needs.
How often will I need to monitor my patient?
As frequently as it is clinically indicated within the TAPER guide, as well as according to your professional opinion.
How do I get my patient’s specialist involved?
The TAPER research team can provide you with template letters to send to specialists outlining the TAPER process and to request their support during the study.
What is the tool used in TAPER?
TaperMD is a simple but powerful tool that supports the clinical pathway of TAPER. TaperMD can help you collect patient priorities, values, and suspected medication side effects to inform the medication review. It also includes a medication interaction checker, and proprietary screens for potentially inappropriate medications and medication burdens. The tool also enables documentation of a “pause and monitor” plan for each medication and access to tapering guidelines.