Polypharmacy

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

When making the decision to prescribe there are a number of influence you have to consider. It is important to have an awareness of these influences and take them into consideration when issuing a prescription. It is importance to have knowledge of the DOH (2006) Medicines Matters this give guidance on the mechanisms available for prescribing and administration and supply of products. Team trends and external company’s and there representatives promoting their products have a big influence on your prescribing practice Bradley (2006) found that these influences were of concern to some nurses feeling that their colleague may ask them to prescribe for patients they haven’t seen. Thomas (2008)

With access to prescription drugs, people are able to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses. These drugs help deal with pain, inability to sleep, depression, and much more. Every day we are increasingly living in a world where there is better living through chemicals. However, what most do not seem to see is the rising tide of pain, illness, and ultimately death being caused by the pills people take every day. Most keep drugs in a special place in their minds, where they see them as harmless. Sadly, this is not the case, and in some cases our prescription drugs can be just as harmful as illegal drugs (King 68).

The intended use of medications is meant to improve a person’ health, it is very important the individual administering medication or self-medicating use the drugs correctly, by following the doctors’ instruction for the medication prescribed. Medication is given to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness. Medication can be very dangerous, which can potentially cause harm or even deaf if it’s not used properly.

Polypharmacy often happens in the elderly as they take multiple medications a day. It is not uncommon for pills to look alike, be the same color or shape therefore, increasing the risk of overdose. 12,000 baby boomers died in 2013 because of accidental prescription drug overdoses. Narcan could have potentially saved the victims life after unintentional consumption of the wrong medication.

Nearly half of seniors do not take their medications when or how they were prescribed. There are mistakes on dosages, methods of delivery, time of delivery, what they should be taken with, and even if they should still be taken. Compounding the issue, most seniors over the age of 65 are taking between 8 and 13 different medications. Put these numbers together and it is no wonder that problems with medication management are one of the leading reasons seniors end up in the emergency room, and is the number one reason seniors end up back in the hospital after being recently discharged. According to a study published in "Pharmacotherapy", nearly 70 percent of hospitalized seniors suffered from at least one

Pharmaceutical drug dependency is not a new craze sweeping the nation. Although it has progressed, it is something that has been a noticeable issue since the early twentieth century. For starters, there is a pill for everything; pregnancy, being over-weight, pain, sneezing, and much more. When you have a variety like that, it’s hard not to take the easy way out. The latest generations of prescription drugs compensate conditions such as depression, gynecological disorders, hyperactivity, impotence, sleeping problems and more. We are waist deep in a pill culture. According to Tennent, a reason for this up-rise in patients being so eager to take up prescription drugs is that new and more sophisticated drugs have reduced the severity of accompanying side-effects. (Tennent) However, this is a gamble and something one could not be sure of. There are medications prescribed for less

Our working hypothesis is that most interactions occur due to continuous or additional use of an over the counter medication despite change in therapy, without consulting the primary care provider. We will test this hypothesis by analyzing hospital records and determining hospitalization and death that are a result of over the counter medications and compare to those that result from prescription medications.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of older adult pharmacology is the concomitant use of multiple medications. Among community-

As the elderly population increases so will the occurrences of ADEs. For this reason, it is important to protect the elderly patient from these negative consequences of polypharmacy. This is accomplished by understanding how the aging body reacts to medications, understanding which drugs are the most problematic for the elderly patient, and how to spot a drug-related problem and

According to an article written by Anna Gorman of Health Leaders Media, the use of prescription drugs is a growing concern. The article mentions Lola Cal, a patient in a geriatric unit in Santa Monica, California whose medical records show that she is on 36 different medications. Although people born from 1946 to 1964, known as the baby boomer generation, only make up 16% of the U. S. population, this generation accounts for one-third of prescription drug use. Many elderly patients take several medications to treat chronic illnesses and raise their chances for serious side effects and dangerous drug interactions. Dr. Maristela Garcia, director of the inpatient geriatric unit at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica states that polypharmacy is “America’s other drug problem.

As the population continues to live longer the older adult has had an increase in chronic conditions develop, resulting in an increase in multimorbidity. This causes the older adult to be more vulnerable to disability, poor quality of life, risk of death and adverse drug reactions (Salive, 2013). In general, the older adult is vulnerable to having an adverse reaction to medications. The older adult not only has a higher risk of an adverse reaction to any particular medication given, there is an increase in risk of reactions associated with the multiple medications older adults are frequently prescribed due to multi-chronic conditions (Hubbard, O’Mahony, & Woodhouse, 2013). Adverse drug reaction and multimorbidity can benefit from additional research to better understand the older adult reaction to medications and dosages, as well as management of multimorbidity. Until then physicians, nurses, the older adult, and the family need to collaborate to find the treatment plan that works best with the least amount of side effects from medications. Often times starting low with medication dosing and increasing to the dose to achieve therapeutic levels is done with the older adult to help decrease an adverse reaction to medication. Management of multimorbid conditions in which maximizing the quality of life the older adult has is the goal. This can be done by frequent assessment of the treatment plan and making

Polypharmacy among the elderly is a growing concern in U.S. healthcare system. Patients who have comorbities and take multiple medications are at a higher risk for potential adverse drug reactions. There is a great need for nursing interventions in conducting a patient medication review also known as “brown bag”. As nurses obtain history data from patients at a provider visit, the nurse should ask “what medications are you taking?” and the answer needs to include over-the-counter medications as well. If the response does not include any medications other than prescribed meds, it is incumbent upon the nursing professionals to question the patient further to ensure that no over-the-counter medications or supplements are

In elderly people, polypharmacy is known to be associated with adverse drug events otherwise defined as “presence of untoward and unintended symptoms, signs or abnormal laboratory values arising from the appropriate or inappropriate use of prescription or over-the counter medications” (13).

Tissot E, Cornette C, Limat S, et al. Observational study of potential risk factors of medication