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I ALTON OH I Si lay January IB I WW 1 1 op Lifestyle DRGOTT Elderly may get too many drugs By Peter PEAR DR My sister la In a nursing home I thought that she was getting a lot of different medicines every day so I did some investigating Did you know that nursinghome pa tients receive an average of diner- eat medications daily Whats wrong with doctors Dont they review the medicines their patients are getting PEAR READER Good question Before ragging on doctors lets be fair about the Issue of medications for nursing home residents I think I am being generous by say ing that elderly people in nursing homes skilled nursing facilities arc not well If they were they wouldnt be there Of course patients arc sometimes put there for social rea sons they have no one to look after them but ordinarily by the time you need nursing home care you are My own nursing home patients have advanced heart disease stroke hypertension diabetes senility can or osteoporosis Those are just the serious illnesses Most of my patients experience sleeplessness falling vi sion and almost invariably constipa tion They get colds and flu like any one else but a little worse Therefore In order to be comfort able these elderly people require medication often several varieties Sometimes I have to prescribe drugs to keep confused elderly people calm so that they wont harm themselves or unfairly disturb other residents doing this but in a nursing home setting It is a practical expediency I dont doubt your figure of icincs per average resident Nonethe less for a mentally unstable diabetic with hypertension and arthritis seven medicines may be a basic and reason able reaulremcnt On the other hand patients In skilled nursing facilities are at risk of being exorbitantly overmedlcated Doctors being human are sometimes too rushed too lazy or too prcoccu pled to analyze meticulously the drugs their patients are receiving The majority of physicians make an DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC AW TRENTON DT 18 CHURCH STREET GEORGETOWN ACROSS FROM I AND CULTURAL CfNTRF 8772359 effort to be cautious but we do have our lapses For Instance I try to mini mize the amount of medication I pre scribe yet on occasion I have to be reminded that I slipped up and dupli cated drugs such as tranquilizers on top of sleeping pills or prescribed a compound to counteract the effects of another These errors usually are brought to my attention by the nurses In the nursing home and I am grate ful to them for providing this service Actually several safeguards help to protect patients in the system Be cause nurses administer each cine they are In a good position to evaluate the drug s effectiveness or lack of it and to question the doctors even in some circumstances to suggest alterations The pharmacist consultant In nursing homes performs periodic record Inspections to make sure that the prescribing conforms to sound medical practice Patients themselves may question the appro priateness of their medications Fi nally patients families often get into the act when they discover that Aunt Ella who has been a holy terror for six months is suddenly docile too docile a zombie Why thuslastle prescribing of a sedative by the doctor pharmacy the simultaneous use of multiple drugs may Its place In Individual Instances believe that constant evaluation and analysis is a mandatory part of good geriatric To this end I encourage Doctors to carefully weigh the benefitrisk ratio of drugs prescribed to the elderly and to welcome advice and suggestions offered by nursing- home personnel and patients families Nurses to question doctors or ders act as patient advocates and re sist intimidation by physicians to become residents of nursing Families to insist on coherent Let us pledge to treat our el- explanations by the professional staff a we ourselves will doctor included about their elderly w lre3K hat llffle relatives medications comes If we are willing to work together to improve the lot of our nursing- home residents we can make these Institutions much more pleasant for he patients in them This cooperation has theoretical value above and be yond present practical consider ations Sooner or later many of us arc I share your concern about in nursing homes The prob lem exists and must be frequently and directly addressed Even though poly- REGULAR TIME CLEANING SILVER POLISHING CLOSETS CUPBOARDS LAUNDRY WINDOWS ETC REFERENCES GIFT FREE ESTIMATES BONDED 8771724 I OFF Wall Hangings Tovs 30 OFF Want S Across Iran Can Tire Centre 8732448 Georgetown COMPANY CASSEROLE 1 envelope Uptons Chicken Noodle Soup cups boiling water butter flour cup heavy cream whipped 1 10 pack frozen spinach cooked and drained 1 can tuna drained hard boiled egos sliced grated Permesan cheese chicken noodle soup Into boiling water simmer minutes Strain soup In a saucepan melt butter and blend in flour Stir in hot liquid from soup simmer 5 minutes Remove from heat and fold In whipped cream In a casserole arrange layers of noodles strained 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