Introduction
Most people start complaining about distress and pain when getting older. Trying to recover their health, the elderly consult different doctors and take various pharmaceuticals. Very often they forget the number of the pills they have already taken or decide to take some more if the discomfort does not pass off immediately. In such cases, the problem of polypharmacy occurs.
Polypharmacy
Polypharmacy is defined as the excessive use of unnecessary medications. The research shows that elderly people take more unprescribed medications than prescribed ones. About ¼ of all cases when a person was hospitalized happened because of the overuse of pills. Of course, we got used to the fact that elderly people take more pharmaceuticals than those who are younger, but we cannot live this problem without attention.
There are different reasons for polypharmacy, for example, people may practice self-medicating. It is possible that they experienced side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, and the doctor, considering them to be the symptoms of some other illness, prescribes new ones. Maybe the patient consults many doctors in different hospitals. Or there might be some misunderstanding between the physician and the patient (Pervin, 2008). The appearance of a range of new medicines helps doctors to choose the best option for each client, but it is also a reason why they prescribe more drugs. Herbal therapy becomes more and more common and these medicines can be taken without consultation. It is also possible to take the same pills in different pharmacies (Wooten, Pharm, & Galavis, 2005).
With aging polypharmacy increases the probability of “drug interactions and adverse drug reactions, disability and cognitive impairment, falls and fractures, malnutrition, hospitalization and institutionalization, mortality, and rising health care costs” (Nobili, Garattini, & Mannucci, 2011).
The problem is likely to be solved when patients consult one and the same physician every time they get to the hospital. With age, some processes in a human’s body suffer changes. Medicines are distributed into fat or water, and as the elderly have less water in the body, drugs get into the blood. They damage the kidneys, the liver, and a person starts taking new pills in order to throw off the illness but ruins one’s health even more. Some precautions should be made to help the elderly overcome this problem.
Care Management
Geriatric care management provides help for the elderly and their families in various situations. A care manager is a person who works as a nurse, counselor or social worker.
Care managers assist the elderly in their everyday life. To find the most appropriate manager, one needs to understand clearly what is to be improved. They can make an assessment or a plan with recommendations; they can arrange services or check what one needs (McCullough, 2009).
To prevent the repetition of polypharmacy and to reduce its negative influence, care managers should check the quality of communication between the patient and the physician. They are to understand which medicines should be taken by an elderly person and which should not. The notes for monitoring the pills are preferred. Care managers should notice the time when the medicines are taken. Finally, they should try to explain the harmful consequence of polypharmacy.
Conclusion
Taking everything mentioned into account, it can be said that the majority of the elderly faces the problem of polypharmacy. To prevent the serious negative effect, families may refer to the geriatric care manager. This manager will monitor the medicines the elderly person takes and assist him/her in everyday life.
References
McCullough, L. (2009). The case manager: An essential link in quality care. Creative Nursing, 15 (3), 124-126.
Nobili, A., Garattini, S., & Mannucci, P. (2011). Multiple diseases and polypharmacy in the elderly: Challenges for the internist of the third millennium. Journal of Comorbidity, 1 (1), 28-44.
Pervin, L. (2008). Polypharmacy and aging: Is there cause for concern? Gerontol Update, 6 (1), 6.
Wooten, J., Pharm, D., & Galavis, J. (2005). Polypharmacy: Keeping the elderly safe. RN, 68 (8), 45-51.