How can nurses help older adults in avoiding the problems of polypharmacy and organizing their medications in an easy to understand and use format.
ANSWER
Nurses can help older adults avoid the problems of polypharmacy and organize their medications in an understandable and usable format by focusing on patient education, promoting medication adherence, and utilizing tools such as pill organizers, alarms, or smartphone apps. How can nurses help older adults in avoiding the problems of polypharmacy and organizing their medications in an easy to understand and use format.
Patient education is one of the critical strategies for preventing and managing polypharmacy in older adults. Nurses should provide comprehensive information about the medications to ensure that older patients have a thorough understanding of their prescribed drugs, including potential side effects, adverse reactions, interactions with other drugs or alcohol consumption, dosage instructions (including whether to take with/without food), frequency of taking the drug(s) throughout a day/week/month and potential withdrawal symptoms if they stop them abruptly.
To promote medication adherence and prevent overmedication among older adults, nurses should encourage patients to keep an up-to-date list of all medications (both prescription and over-the-counter) they are taking and review them with their healthcare team at every visit. Additionally, nurses can use pill organizers and alarms to remind older adults when it’s time to take specific medications. Smartphone applications also help organize and keep track of multiple medications and send reminders to patients when it’s time for their next dose. How can nurses help older adults in avoiding the problems of polypharmacy and organizing their medications in an easy to understand and use format.
Suppose the patient has hearing or vision deficits. In that case, nurses should use other strategies for promoting medication adherence, such as providing written materials about medication safety in large print or audio recordings, enlisting family members or caregivers for assistance, having a pharmacist implant electronic chips into bottles that alert patients when it is time for medication; and using color coding systems to distinguish different types of medications.
If the patient is illiterate, nurses should focus on helping them understand how certain medications work by providing visual aids such as diagrams or pictures showing what actions each drug performs in their body, talking through the details using simple language, demonstrating how to set up pill organizers; providing verbal reminders instead of printed instructions; and assigning a family member or caregiver who can assist with understanding instructions. How can nurses help older adults in avoiding the problems of polypharmacy and organizing their medications in an easy to understand and use format.
QUESTION
Why do many people seem to have negative feelings toward elders? What do you think that they fear when interacting with or touching older people? How can nurses overcome some of those fears or hesitations?
What types of rights do you feel older adults should have when it comes to the end of their lives and prolonging life? If older adults with dementia or longtime chronic illnesses choose to withhold food/water or refuse treatment for an illness, do you feel that is within their rights? How would you counsel family members to deal with these types of issues?
APA format word document,
cited/quote at least 3 evidence based references no older than 5 years old and one must be from a GERIATRIC JOURNAL
A minimum of 500 words are required.