It is a fact; the older adult population is living longer. While many older adults are fit and healthy, others are frail and weak requiring necessary medication. It is more important than ever for all of the healthcare community to be conscious of safe prescribing and the proper use of medicine when taking care of older adults. Analysis and Risks As we age, the use of medication is often increased in an effort to treat illness and disease. In older adults this frequently results in the administration of multiple medications, both appropriately and inappropriately, at the same time. This is known as polypharmacy. While polypharmacy can exist with any age demographic, it is much more prevalent in older adults where the risk of multiple health conditions is greater. It is not uncommon, for example, for a patient to be treated with multiple therapeutic drug combinations in order to manage disease such as diabetes, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Kaufman, 2011, p. 49). Polypharmacy is associated as a major factor placing older adults at risk for an adverse drug event. As the number of medications increase, the need for monitoring becomes much more crucial. When there is a breakdown in proper monitoring, the older adult is significantly placed at a higher risk for negative health outcomes due to serious side effects, poor adherence, adverse drug reactions and adverse drug interactions. Adverse drug events or medication errors that result from polypharmacy can often be difficult to predict and prevent. According to an article posted in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (2012), drug –drug interactions may lead to increased toxicity levels when taken together. An example is the interactio... ... middle of paper ... ...fman, G. (2011, April). Polypharmacy in older adults. Nursing Standard, 25(38), 49-55. Miller, Carol A. (2012). Nursing for Wellness in Older Adults. (sixth edition). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Woodruff, K., (2010, October). Preventing polypharmacy in older adults. American Nurse Today, 5(10). Retrieved from http://www.americannursetoday.com/article.aspx?id=7132 Wooten, J., & Galavis, J. (2005). Polypharmacy: Keeping the elderly safe. Retrieved from http://www.modernmedicine.com/modern-medicine/news/polypharmacy-keeping-elderly-safe Wright, A., FebloWitz, J., Phansalkar, S., Liu, J., Wilcox, A., Keohane, C., … Bates, D. (2012). Preventability of adverse drug events involving multiple drugs using publicly available clinical decision support tools. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 69, 221-227.
The varieties of pharmaceutical and prescription drugs that are available to the public provide many different consequences, which could lead to other health problems among users. Opioids, for example, are typical...
Strasser, Judith A., Shirley Damrosch, and Jacquelyn Gaines. Journal of Community Health Nursing. 2. 8. Taylor & Francis, Ltd., 1991. 65-73. Print.
Polypharmacy is the “concurrent use of several differ drugs and becomes an issue in older adults when the high number of drugs in a medication regimen includes overlapping drugs for the same therapeutic effect”(Woo & Wynne, 2011, p. 1426). The patient is currently taking several medications that can potential interact with each other, perform the same therapeutic effect, and creating side effects. The following is a list of her medications and their indications:
...teract. Many of the medications are very powerful in and of themselves. This article also presents additional approaches to medicating the elderly, including focus on reduction of number of medications prescribed. Both articles present the importance of considering the normal physiological changes within geriatric patients.
Medcohealth. Women and Aging: Our lives due change (2002). Retrieved November 18, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.medcohealth.com
contamination, toxicity, and side effects. Most people believe these medications are compounded or mixed by a trained and licensed individual. However, this is inaccurate because the pharmacy technician actually compounds a large percentage of a patient’s medications. Compounding involves a techn...
...d a gap in the number of studies conducted regarding this issue. From the studies reviewed, the results demonstrate that the increasingly health related issue of polypharmacy among the elderly requires the immediate attention of health care professionals. The studies revealed that in conjunction with medication reviews (brown bag), the STOPP criteria is a tool in which can be effective in detecting PIMs. The studies also revealed that nurses are in the position to address and assess for adverse drug reactions associated with polypharmacy by utilizing the “brown bag”, medication review, and STOPP criteria. Regarding the PICO question, the results of these studies support the essential need of medication reviews to be implemented by nurses and healthcare professionals at every provider visit to reduce the risk of polypharmacy and its associated adverse reactions.
A search for current peer reviewed research studies was conducted using CINAHL, Medline, and PubMed. The research articles were generated by utilizing the search entry with the terms of polypharmacy, polypharmacy among the elderly, adverse drug reactions and polypharmacy, and consequences and polypharmacy. After receiving a few research articles, a new search was conducted replacing the term of polypharmacy with multiple medications. These searches yielded limited research articles pertaining to the topic of polypharmacy.
Darby, S. Marr, J. Crump, A Scurfield, M (1999) Older People, Nursing & Mental Health. Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the aging population will continue to grow due to the falling fertility rates and the increases in life expectancy. However, this population has distinctive, demographic factors that may influence their adherence to medication necessities. Dynamics that affect medication regimen in the elderly can be related to “memory and cognition (forgetting to take medication), dexterity (unable to open medication or break pills in half), low literacy, concern about side effects
* There are close to 2 million cases each year of drug complications that result in 180,000 deaths or life-threatening illnesses in the eldery (Langreth, 2004).
...th professionals, were significantly more cynical toward and distrustful of older adults” (p. 63). The findings in Meisner’s (2012) conveyed that physicians demonstrated attitudes about older patients including feelings of these individuals being “disengaged and unproductive” while assuming that these characteristics applied to all of the older patients regardless of each person’s actual abilities (p. 63). Combing all older adults into one category defined by disability and dysfunction is detrimental to the well-being of each patient. Chronological age is not the determining factor relative to treatment; functional age is a better testament to expected outcomes for a patient. It is imperative that physicians understand what is “normal aging” rather than searching for pathologies based on symptoms that are just part of this aging process. According to Meisner
Medication errors are any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care profession, patient or consumer (Johnson, 2012). Approximate 1.3 million people injure each year due to medication errors in the United States. According to the Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention describes medication errors as any event that cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while on the medication (Comrade 2014). The Food and drug administration evaluates and report the most common medication error as improper dosage accounts for 41 percent of fatal medication error and failure
... their mediation regimen closely. Many elderly patients are taking several drugs that can reduce the efficacy and increase the toxicity of one another. In order to avoid complications it is important to always educate the patients on proper usage, side effects and specific drug interactions. If a patient misses a dose they should never double up. This could increase their risk for possible overdose. Certain OTC drugs and herbal supplements can have adverse reactions and reduce the efficacy of these drugs. Patients should be advised to that alcohol or tobacco consumption may alter the absorption of the medication and should be avoided. Lab work should be completed routinely to avoid renal and liver toxicity when taking these two classes of drugs.
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the dangers of prescription drugs when not taken as prescribed by your physician or pharmacist.