I’ve spent years of my life working in and around long term care (nursing homes). The CMS F-tag, F-329 Unnecessary Medications tag is by far (in combination with F-428) the most common survey deficiency that a consultant pharmacist can help a facility avoid. The...
Just like anything, long term care has its own language. I’m going to breakdown a few of the most important acronyms and terminology that any consultant pharmacist in long term care should know. DRR or MRR. Drug regimen review (or medication regimen...
A 95 year old female has recently entered a hospice program. Whenever a patient is enrolled in hospice, it is very important to assess the medication regimen and identify medications that are no longer necessary. Quality of life is the top goal when a patient is on...
Start low and go slow is a great phrase to think about in the elderly. While this mantra shouldn’t always apply, it is very helpful to consider when working with geriatric patients. I want you to really think about “start low and go slow” and when this would and...
This is often one of the most challenging questions in geriatrics: When should we discontinue statins in the elderly? I’ve been asked this question several times, and there are a lot of factors that go into my assessment as to whether a statin should be...
It is really hard to narrow down a list of thousands of drugs to 5. Right or wrong, I did it. I based my subjective list upon frequency of use, highest risk for medication errors, significance when an error occurs, drug interactions, and risk of hospitalization....
