Hormacy Case Study

When doctors prescribe medication for their patients, a local retail pharmacy is most likely to be utilized to fill the order. However, there is a growing population of older Americans that are no longer able to live independently and must reside in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. In order for this vulnerable population to receive their medications, a different kind of pharmacy is needed, these are known as LTC, long term care pharmacies. Within these specialized pharmacies there are highly trained employees called CPhTs, certified pharmacy technicians who are overseen by state licensed

Polypharmacy, described as an individual taking more than four medications, can be concerning with the aging population. Polypharmacy concerns include adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, higher cost, decreased mobility, decreased quality of life and cognition impairment. Those at greater risk of negative polypharmacy consequences include elderly, psychiatric patients, recently hospitalized, individuals with multiple doctors or pharmacies and people with impaired vision or dexterity. There are times that polypharmacy is at times needed to help a person with their diagnosis, an example of this is using multiple medications to treat congestive heart failure which can include digoxin, diuretics, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors

Because of the aging process, multiple medications that are taking can be harmful to their bodies. It is not uncommon “for a client with multiple medical conditions to be on 6-9 medications” (Carroll, C., & Hassanin, A., 2017). If they are to become hospitalized it is possible that during their stay, they are prescribed new medications for an existing condition. These new medications can put an elderly client at risk for polypharmacy. The client may become overwhelmed and confused, and may add their new medication to their existing pill regimen and take both old and new. There may also be a situation where the elderly client has multiple physician appointments and they are all prescribing medications which can lead to “inadequate or lack of health counseling on pharmacological management” (Carroll, C., & Hassanin, A.,

The concept of “deprescribing medications” as mentioned in your paper is an interesting topic. This is a relativity new concept that the use of multiple medications that can increase the risk of adverse drug reactions to the patient. When polypharmacy is apparent, the risk of drug interaction falls hospitalization and death can occur. The APN has a role in the medical profession to start a trend of watching over and deprescribe medication for the polypharmacy patients. While compiling the prescribed medication and the medication the patient consumes the chance that they can overlap each other and cause harm is increased. With the elderly population deprescribing by tapering, stopping, and or discontinuing medication

Working directly in patients homes we have access to their medication cabinets, doctor orders, and medication sheets. Thorough review of their medications is the first step to identify polypharmacy. Lui, (2014) discusses the approach of deprescrbing unnecessary medications. Stopping unnecessary or harmful medication is an often overlooked yet important component of geriatric practice. This process may be time-consuming, as there are many factors to consider when deprescribing medications in elderly patients.

As humans grow older, their bodies start wearing out. Joints get rougher, eyesight blurs, breathing might get more difficult, muscles ache more, and heart issues may start to arise. With all of these issues, developing as people age, physicians more often than not will prescribe medications to treat ailments. When one is taking more than four or more drugs at a time, it is defined as polypharmacy. “In any event, polymedication is associated with greater complexity in clinical management and a higher rate of adverse events” (Blanco-Reina et al., 2015, p. 200). The complications start when these elderly people are prescribed more than a handful of medications.

Many healthcare providers can have trouble identifying those patients who are at risk for polypharmacy and are taking too many medications which can interact. Certain general features established by Bushardt and Jones in 2005 helps identify the key characteristics of individuals who are at a higher risk of having medication problems. The key characteristics include: those patients who are 85 or older, who have some level of renal insufficiency, a low body weight, six or

The purpose of this systematic review was to find studies focused on polypharmacy in the elderly and if there were any significant health risks compared to non-polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is when a patient is taking multiple medications (usually 4+) at the same time. This can get complicated when the drugs being taken will interact with each other. This can also cause problems when elderly patients forget to take certain medications or do not follow specific order while taking them. What this systematic review found was that polypharmacy does indeed increase health risks in the elderly population and that steps should be taken to mitigate these risks in clinical settings by reducing amounts of prescriptions.

Are any of you are aware of the terminology of any medication taken or do you all simply take the medication because it was prescribed by a doctor? it is undeniable that drugs do save lives, but few prescription medications are completely free of risks or side effects. Naturally, the more drugs that are taken at the same time, the greater the risk of adverse interactions and potentially devastating side effects. This problem of “overmedication” is increasing to almost epidemic proportions among the elderly. For example, a recent Washington Post article that described an 83-year-old grandmother who wished to remain anonymous. The woman had been hospitalized for an asthma attack. In the hospital, she was prescribed

Polypharmacy, which is the use of multiple medications and/or the administration of more medications than are clinically indicated, which is very common in elder adults. Polypharmacy has many bad effects on the body of an elder. Taking medicine is already risky but taking more than one medicine especially different kinds can hurt the body. Taking many medicine can cause “Poor health, depression, hypertension, anemia, asthma, angina, diverticulosis, osteoarthritis, weight gain, diabetics mellitus, and use of 9 or more medications are the health risk associated with polypharmacy” (Hajjar, Cafiero, & Hanlon ,2007). These can occur because taking many medicines at the same time especially if the doctor does not direct you to do it that way, the medicine can

“Polypharmacy is a term that refers to a high number of prescribed medications; usually five and above, or the use of more medications than clinically justified” (Chiang-Hanisko, 2014). According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention between 2007 and 2010 nearly 25% of the elderly population were prescribed 5 or more medications. Due to the longer life expectancy, the aging population is more vulnerable to polypharmacy because they often have several comorbidities. The issue lies when several providers prescribe multiple medications and are not knowledgeable about the patient’s drug history. Polypharmacy is dangerous and usually results in numerous adverse drug reactions, noncompliance, and an increase in injuries resulting in hospitalization or mortality. Health providers need to become aware of the multiple medications that their client are receiving in order to reduce the use of unnecessary medications, and provide quality care.

Medication-noncompliance problems are common among elderly patients who are discharged from the hospital and are using several drugs for their chronic diseases (Ahmad et al., 2010). Medication management is a challenge for adults of all ages, but for the elderly, physical limitations, such as vision problems, memory loss, arthropathy) can make it particularly challenging to take medicine according to a set schedule(Simonson, 1984). In Australia, the population is ageing rapidly. Since 1970, the Australian population has aged significantly increase in the proportion of adults aged 85 years and older(Hillen et al., 2015). The prevalence of multiple chronic conditions in the older population is reported to be between 65% to 80%.(Hillen

Polypharmacy, an amount of medications exceeding the number of medically indicated, continues as a major problem in the medical community. Certain factors like age, race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and clinical condition can increase a patient’s risk of having an excessive medication list. The increase in popularity of over-the-counter medications and herbal supplements also adds to the problem. Adding a medication increases the chance of a drug-drug interactions, side effects, or non-adherence to taking medications. All three problems pose significant problems in helping patients make functional goals of treatment and hamper a patient’s quality of life.

Thank you MariaChristina for a very informative power point. You have included all the essential topics in the power points. Polypharmacy in older adults is a very relevant topic. Adverse reactions are common in older adults and often manifest differently than in younger patients. An estimated 35% of ambulatory older adults experience an adverse drug reaction each year; 29% of these reactions require hospitalization or a physician’s care and some adverse reactions are identified incorrectly as health problems. For instance, falls, dementia, and urinary incontinence are common in the elderly and can result from a health problem or a medication (Alpert & Gatlin, 2015). The protocol developed based on the evidence that addresses polypharmacy in

We used data abstraction format to collect data on diagnosis, duration of illness, dosage regimen of medications, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) if any, diabetes complications, blood glucose and blood pressure measurements, and laboratory results. Structured questionnaire was used to collect patients ‘demographics, and patients’ medication experience. Drug related problems (DRPs) and possible causes of DRPs were identified using Cipolle’s drug related problem identification tool (8, 15). The appropriateness of drug indications, appropriateness of drug usage and dosage was assessed using pharmacotherapy text book ninth edition and