A Cochrane review1 with the title ‘medication review in hospitalised patients to reduce morbidity and mortality’ and published in 2013 has raised concerns among a number of hospital pharmacists. The conclusions in the abstract state: “It is uncertain whether medication review reduces mortality or hospital readmissions, but medication review seems to reduce emergency department contacts. However the cost effectiveness of this intervention is not known.”

So should we pack up and forget about medication review? The paper needs a bit more unpicking because what can seem like evidence that something does not work can often be just a lack of evidence.

In this case, the PICO was as follows: participants (P) were hospitalised patients (ie, admitted to hospital). In practice, most were elderly but not all. The intervention (I) was medication review defined by the authors as: “any systematic assessment …