Drug Utilization and Prescribing Patterns in a Skilled Nursing Facility: The Need for a Rational Approach to Therapeutics

Segal, Jack L.; Thompson, John F.; Floyd, Ronald A.

doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1979.tb04139.x

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…However, data from nursing facility research have indicated a strong association between adverse drug reactions and the lack of a definite diagnostic indication. 30 Whether this is true also for residents of RCFEs warrants further investigation. In any event, the absence of diagnoses in the health record made it very difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate the appropriateness of prescribing or medication use.…”

Section: Research Reportsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Medication Use in Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly

et al. 1999

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This RCFE sample was medically frail and took many medications. The frequent use of cardiovascular medication reflected the prevalence of cardiac disease in the elderly. The frequency of psychotropic drug use without a corresponding indication suggested prescribing for symptoms rather than documented medical conditions. Lack of recorded diagnoses limited the ability to evaluate drug therapy. Improved record keeping; periodic medication review; and resident, staff, and prescriber education are necessary to ensure appropriate medication use in this setting.

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Section: Research Reportsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Medication Use in Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly

et al. 1999

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“…Kalchthaler et al 1977;Segal et al 1979;Ray et al 1980;Clarke et al 1981;Beers et al 1988;Buck 1988;Burns et al 1988;Beardsly et al 1989). The rates of psychotropic drug intake reported from these studies lie between 32 % (Burns et al 1988) and 86% (Segal et al 1979). Of the different types of psychotropic drugs, most studies indicated that neuroleptics or hypnotics were used most frequently, while the use of antidepressants and anxiolytics was less common.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Psychotropic drug intake in residents newly admitted to nursing homes

et al. 1997

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While several surveys have shown that psychotropic drugs are frequently used by nursing home residents, no studies have been performed to investigate whether the rates of drug use increase during the stay in nursing homes or whether residents have taken these drugs already before admission. Therefore, we investigated 262 residents admitted to rural and urban nursing homes in Austria for prevalence of psychotropic drug intake before admission, shortly after admission, and 6 months later. Two weeks after admission, 72.1% of the residents were being treated with psychotropics, while 6 months later 79.0% were receiving these drugs. The significantly higher rates of psychotropic drug use among the psychiatrically ill and in those suffering from sleeping problems suggest that these drugs were prescribed aptly, but residents without appropriate criteria for drug intake were often also treated with psychotropics. During 3 months before admission to nursing homes, 45.5% of the sample reported having taken psychotropics. In more than half of residents without drug intake before admission, psychotropic treatment was initiated within the first 2 weeks after admission, while during the first 6 months after admission the rate of drug use increased only slightly. This suggests that a large percentage of psychotropic intake is due to nursing home orders.

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“…Care of the elderly living in long‐term institutions has attracted much attention in the United States. Numerous studies on prescribing for this tiny sector of the community (less than 5% of all persons aged 65 years or older) have been published 36–49 …”

Section: Prescribing For the Elderly In Long‐term‐care Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%