PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS
PROPOSED RESOLUTION 3
Providing Leadership to Preventing Overmedication of Older Adults Whereas,
Whereas,
Registered Nurses continually advocate for quality patient care and public safety, and
Many older adults suffer falls, unnecessary hip fractures and inappropriate dementia diagnosis related to adverse medication events, and
Whereas,
Whereas,
Patients are best served by having adequate and appropriate medications prescribed to promote health and wellness, and
Because of the trust given by the general public, Registered Nurses are the ideal health care providers to facilitate care coordination addressing potential overmedication for older adult populations,
Whereas, Patients should have objective, current information about the risks, benefits and alternatives as well as outcomes expected of medications prescribed, and
Whereas, Older adults between 60 and 69 are now prescribed average of 14 medications per year and those 80-89 now have an average of 18 drugs prescribed per year, and
Whereas, Prescribed medications for patients should be individualized and appropriate to patient age, weight, gender, metabolic status and diagnoses, and
Whereas, Older adults are excluded from medication studies that determine appropriate dose and metabolic responses to minimize side effects and interactions, and
Whereas, The Pharmaceutical industry direct-to- consumer advertisement spending has increased from $1.1 billion in 1999 to $4 billion in 2004 and the money older adults spent for prescription medications in 2011 was $9.7 billion, and
Be It Therefore Resolved, That WSNA recommend to ANA that ANA partner with consumer advocacy organizations to develop strategies for education and advocacy for appropriate medication management for older adults, and
Be It Further Resolved That WSNA and ANA work collaboratively with other geriatric advocacy organizations and groups to demand more rigorous study of appropriate use of medications for older adults and continue to work with consumer advocacy groups to determine guidelines to discontinue classes of medications where effectiveness has not been shown, and
Be It Further Resolved That WSNA and ANA join efforts with other consumer advocacy organizations to educate older adults how to advocate for safer medication management for themselves. C O N TAC T S Jeaux Rinehart Chair, Professional Nursing and Health Care Council jeauxr@hotmail.com Pam Pasquale, Member, Professional Nursing and Health Care Council Goeduck87@gmail.com
Whereas, Visit times with health care providers most often focus on disease management and does not allow for in-depth discussion and review of medications, and
Whereas, Health care providers may not be aware of long term side effects when prescribing select classes of drugs for older adults, and
Whereas, Older adult drug treatment problems from side effects or inappropriate interactions, resulted in over seventy-seven billion dollars in the year 2000, due to ER visits and admissions to Long Term Care Facilities (DrugRelated Morbidity and Mortality: Updating the Cost-of-Illness Model Frank R. Ernst and Amy J. Grizzle http://web.whittier.edu/chemistry/newdrug/ Drug Related.pdf retrieved from the www Oct 29, 2012, and
REFERENCES Inappropriate Drug Prescribing for the Community-Dwelling Elderly. JAMA July 24, 1994, v.272 n 4 http://jama.jamanetwork.com.proxy.heal-wa.org/article.aspx?articleid=376907 retrieved from the www May 9, 2012 Public Citizen: Worst Pills, Best Pills http://www.worstpills.org/public/page.cfm?op_id=3 Retrieved from the www May 9, 2012 Updating the Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults. Results of a US Consensus Panel of Experts Arch Intern Med. 2003;163(22):2716-2724. doi:10.1001/ archinte.163.22.2716 http://www.caregiveremployer.com/instructor/FCOBeers_meds.pdf Retrieved from the www May 9, 2012 Misdiagnosing Dementia. Rightdiagnosis.com. http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/d/dementia/causes. htm#causeslist retrieved from the www May 9, 2012 Seniors at Risk: Designing the system to protect America’s most vulnerable citizens from medication related problems. American Society of Consultant Pharmacists publication. 2004 http://www. laassisted.org/images/ASCP_Seniors_at_Risk_Publication.pdf retrieved from the www Oct 28, 2012
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