Diverse Reaction In Older Adults

Whether I work in the recovery room or intensive care unit, the elderly patients are a special population in my daily nursing practice that are at risk for drug overuse, underuse, or misuse. Moreover, my older patients tend to consume more medications due to their extensive medical history or chronic diseases. Burcham and Rosentheal (2016) explain some of the reasons for drug adverse reaction in older adults. Older adults do not adhere to their medication regimen prescribed by the doctor, they are more sensitive to drugs since they have more comorbidities, and take more medication than a younger person. Economic or cognitive decline could be some issues for noncompliance to the medication regimen. I met a lady at the pharmacy who could not afford to buy her blood pressure medication, so she had not taken the medication in over a year.

Often times the nurse administers Ativan with the intention of sedating the patient and preventing them from hurting themselves. I had a patient who came to the hospital from a nursing home and his family was upset because the

but, fortunately she did after four hours. One must be very careful when administering medication to the elderly population. the Beers criteria list for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adult could serve as a guideline when administering medication to the older population. According to the American Geriatrics Society (2015), this criteria was developed to protect the life of the older adult by limiting the exposure of inappropriate medications. I truly believe this list is easy to understand because it is categorized by organ system, therapeutic classes, and disease. It explains the reasons for not recommending the medication and the quality of the evidence for each