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Taking multiple medications? 5 Questions to Ask
Webinar｜Wednesday, October 29, 2025｜12-1 PM ET
In recognition of Canadian Patient Safety Week 2025 (October 27-31), join Dr. Emily McDonald — physician specializing in patient safety and Director of the Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network — for a live, interactive webinar.
Learn essential questions to ask to ensure all your medications are still necessary and helping you!
Why this matters
Are you or someone you care for taking multiple medications? This is common:
In Canada, one in five adults aged 40 to 59 years old take 3 or more medications.
Two thirds of Canadians aged 65 years and older take at least 5.
Over time, health needs and treatments can change, and some medications may even cause more harm than good. Taking too many medications, or risky ones, can lead to side effects, medication interactions, falls and fractures, reduced quality of life, and hospitalizations.
In this webinar, we will:
Explore why taking multiple medications may have risks.
Hear a real-life story from a patient, Laurent, who experienced side effects, and how he took action to solve these issues.
Learn what to ask a health care provider about the risks and benefits of taking multiple medications.
Get access to a free new tool to help start the conversation!
Date and time: Wednesday, October 29, 2025｜12 to 1 PM ET
Cost: Free｜Audience: Open to all audiences in Canada
This webinar is organized by the Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network, in partnership with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada, deprescribing.org and Canada’s Drug Agency.
Camille Gagnon
Pharmacist and Assistant Director, Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network
Camille Gagnon (PharmD, MSc) is a pharmacist with a master’s degree in public health. She works to make medication use safer by raising public awareness, supporting good healthcare practices, and contributing to research.
Dr. Emily McDonald
Physician and Medication Safety Specialist, McGill University
Dr. Emily G. McDonald (MDCM MSc FRCPC) is an Associate Professor of Medicine in General Internal Medicine at McGill University. She is also a scientist and Director of the Canadian Mediation Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network. Dr. McDonald created MedSafer, a computer application to help patients and their healthcare providers deprescribe. Her research studies safe use of medications and is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Speakers
Laurent Dupuis
Person with Lived Experience and Patient Partner
Laurent Dupuis is 46 and is a sports enthusiast — he loves all outdoor and combat sports. In 2010, however, a cervical fracture and a spinal cord injury left him with chronic pain and forced many changes in his life. To learn how to manage and cope with pain, he joined support groups with the Québec Association of Chronic Pain, and for over a decade was a support group facilitator. All the knowledge he gained from these lived experiences provided the perfect expertise to engage in pain research. In 2018, Laurent joined the Quebec Pain Research Network as a patient partner, and since then he has been involved in many projects on pain. In the hope of helping patients in pain, Laurent became more and more involved in a number of other projects, including the North American Pain School; a TV show called “Mal Invisible” hosted on Savoir Media; as well as many interviews on the radio and the web. Last year, he partnered with the Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network to share his story in a video testimonial about the profound effect deprescribing has had on his wellbeing. He is still doing as much as he can to teach others from his experience, and to help patients regain control over their lives and health conditions.
Shannon Thom
Lead, Appropriate Use, Canada’s Drug Agency
Shannon Thom is a Lead, Appropriate Use at Canada's Drug Agency. Her background is in public health, with policy and health systems experience in areas including cancer care, mental health and HIV/AIDS.
Jonathan Lam
Director, Appropriate Use, Canada’s Drug Agency
Jonathan Lam is the Director, Appropriate Use at Canada's Drug Agency, and has over 10 years of experience working on complex health care challenges—including initiatives to improve how medications are prescribed and used—at the provider and system levels.
Carolyn Hoffman
CEO, ISMP Canada
Carolyn Hoffman (RN, BScN, MN) has senior leadership experience in hospital operations, nursing regulation and patient safety in healthcare. She is the CEO of ISMP Canada.
Melissa Sheldrick
Patient and Family Advisor, ISMP Canada
Melissa is a trained educator and has been working with families for more than 25 years. She began advocating for improved safety after the loss of her 8-year-old son, Andrew, from a preventable medication error.
Lynn Riley
Medication Safety Consultant, ISMP Canada
Lynn Riley (RN) is a registered nurse with more than 40 years experience in a variety of settings including critical care, HIV outpatient clinic and case management. Lynn lives in Nova Scotia and is a Medication Safety Consultant at ISMP Canada.