One of the most common medication review requests I get from clinical staff in long term care and assisted living facilities is identifying medications that may be contributing to falls. Identifying low blood pressure as a potential contributing factor is usually...
Failure to thrive in the elderly is a common syndrome I have encountered in my work as a clinical pharmacist working with geriatric patients. The National Institute of Aging describes failure to thrive (FTT) as a “syndrome of weight loss, decreased appetite and...
Gabapentin is a frequently used medication for neuropathy, RLS, and various other pain syndromes. In this article, I discuss my top 5 reasons to avoid gabapentin use and pick an alternative. Sedation While the sedative nature of gabapentin can be beneficial when...
Polypharmacy is something I’m extremely passionate about. In my work as a consultant pharmacist, there isn’t a much better feeling for me than eliminating medications that the patient doesn’t need. To successfully minimize polypharmacy (check out my...
Trazodone (podcast) is part of a class of antidepressants known as triazolopyridines. I am seeing trazodone for dementia related agitation in my practice and wanted to get a quick review of how solid the evidence is. Let’s start with the basics. Trazodone is...
