Response To Medication Safety Affected By Polypharmacy In The Elderly

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Introduction

Polypharmacy is a term that is commonly used to define a condition where a patient uses multiple medications to treat an ailment. This may also be used in cases where a patient used more medication that is clinically warranted, or even where all medication is clinically indicated but involves too many pills. It is worth noting that polypharmacy usually occurs in elderly people, as well as individuals who have multiple comorbid medical conditions. This is because such patients may require treatment with multiple medications (Salter, 2010).

What health outcomes and adverse reactions are attributed by polypharmacy in the elderly?

Polypharmacy comes with a number of drug related problems. There is a risk of noncompliance with the drug therapy, therapeutic duplication, drug-drug interaction, overdosage and under-dosage (Salter, 2010). These trigger adverse reactions and health outcomes including the following. There is increased evidence that the more medications that an elderly person consumes the higher the likelihood of experiencing falls, loss of morbidity, cognitive decline, cardiac problems and depression. It is worth noting that these adverse effects are usually mistaken for dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease. In frail elderly people, adverse drug reactions may come as geriatric syndromes such as delirium and falls. These are usually not formally monitored in a number of clinical trials (Salter, 2010). The two are known to predict nursing home placement in elderly people and may be crucial, adverse drug reactions to monitor in cases of selecting a meaningful outcome to the patient.

Role of nurses in reducing the risk of polypharmacy in the elderly population

Pharmacists and nurses have a crucial role to play in reducing polypharmacy. They can identify the medications that have been prescribed for the treatment of side effects. It is worth noting that the utilization of multiple medications results in increased risk of side effects. Once side effects occur, other drugs may be administered to treat the side effects. In essence, nurses and pharmacists may discontinue one drug that is resulting in side effects, which may, in fact, lead in the discontinuation of numerous other drugs (Lim & Woodward, 1999).

In addition, it is imperative that the nurses consider the medical history of the elderly person before administering or prescribing certain medications. This would allow for lowering of the possibility for drug-to-drug interactions (Lim & Woodward, 1999). On the same note, it is imperative that the pharmacist or nurse considers the appropriateness of drugs for the patient, as well as the likelihood of side effects. Drugs that are inappropriate, unnecessary or have a high likelihood for resulting in side effects that would necessitate extra therapy should never be dispensed or recommended by the pharmacists (Lim & Woodward, 1999).

Additional educational strategies to enhance drug adherence in the older population

Quite a number of factors affect or influence the medication adherence of a patient. It is imperative that the pharmacist approaches every patient individually so as to evaluate the level of adherence, as well as the barriers that are hindering the patient from adhering to his prescriptions.

As much as education is necessary, it cannot be sufficient to safeguard compliance or adherence. It is imperative that the pharmacists present information pertaining to the prescriptions in a clear and easy-to-understand language (Lim & Woodward, 1999). The patient has to understand the benefits of adherence, as well as the consequences of nonadherence. In this regard, the pharmacist may prepare a dosing card that incorporates the most essential elements pertaining to the patient’s medications. Information that may be included in this card include the pill’s name, its image, the time of the day when it should be taken, as well as the condition for which it is taken (Lim & Woodward, 1999).

References

Lim, W. K., & Woodward, M. C. (1999). Improving medication outcomes in older people. Australian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy

Salter C. (2010). Compliance and concordance during domiciliary medication review involving pharmacists and older people. Sociology of Health and Illnesses