“Overall use of psychotropic drugs did not decrease but rather the use of psychotropic drugs shifted toward a different category.” –OIG Report. The Washington Post reported on a scary trend in nursing homes. Patients are often drugged as a matter of convenience for the nursing home staff or to reduce annoying behavior, not for safety
Maureen Meehan wrote an interesting article about a new marijuana study showing the benefits of cannabis. The University of Colorado Boulder did the study examining the effects of cannabis use in adults aged 60 to 88 with no history of alcohol or other substance use disorder. Results suggest that the use of whole-plant cannabis may
Anti-psychotics medications are dangerous for elderly residents. The risk of harm outweighs the medical benefits. The FDA placed a black box warning on administering anti-psychotics for off-label use. The nursing home industry often used anti-psychotics as a chemical restraint to compensate for unsafe staffing. CMS warned the industry to reduce unnecessary and dangerous antipsychotic medication
Medication theft is a major problem in the nursing home industry. WJHG reported another nurse stealing medications from residents. The missing meds were opiate-based pain medications. Jessie L. Klintworth faces charges related to stealing prescription medications from her job at Florida nursing home. The facility noticed discrepancies in their prescription medication inventory on June 6th. The
The nursing home industry needs to train caregivers on how to treat dementia patients with psychotic symptoms. Psychosis can arise from the medications nursing homes administer to residents with dementia. Antipsychotics are dangerous. Safe staffing and better training is the answer, not more medications. Psychotic symptoms in nursing home residents with dementia lead to poorer
McKnight’s reported that alternative medications replaced dangerous antipsychotic medications among Veterans Health Administration patients. A new analysis shows Veterans nursing homes significantly reduced antipsychotic medication use. A University of Michigan research team published findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry about antipsychotic use among Veterans Health Administration patients. Antipsychotic prescribing dropped from 33.7% to 27.5% from fiscal
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