Pharmacists poised to continue transition into direct care roles, survey finds
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 25, 2022
Pharmacists will continue to move into central roles in healthcare, including chronic disease management in the adult patient population, the authors say.
Survey: Short-stay residents want more help with meds, clinician connections upon discharge
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 03, 2021
Fully 80% of respondents said they received and understood their discharge instructions. But at least two-thirds would have liked more help with their medication regimen, physician referrals, and other...
Validated list of key drug-drug interactions that affect older adults published
By
Alicia Lasek
Oct 14, 2021
The list, published Wednesday in JAMDA, includes 66 drug-drug interactions that are commonly problematic for older adults, and can be used as a clinical management tool to assess potential harms.
Prescribing patterns in nursing homes may impact that of assisted living neighbors, study finds
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 14, 2021
Antipsychotic and anti-anxiety prescribing in nursing homes may have an effect on prescribing in local and affiliated assisted living communities, investigators have found.
Drug diversion, a series: How to deal with it
By
Norris Cunningham
Angela Rinehart
John Myers
Aug 23, 2021
In the first part of this series, we discussed drug diversion: what it is, how to prevent it and how to spot it. This column will focus on how to conduct drug diversion investigations. When drug...
When less is more: The role of deprescribing and art of medication management
By
Kurt Merkelz, M.D.
Jul 28, 2021
More prescriptions do not necessarily mean better health outcomes. Deprescribing, which is the planned and supervised process of intentionally stopping a medication or reducing its dose, is a critically...
Drug diversion, a series: How to prevent and spot it
By
Norris Cunningham
Angela Rinehart
Jul 19, 2021
Drug diversion occurs when prescription medicines are obtained or used illegally. While diversion has always been a concern, without question, COVID-19 certainly increased personal stress and pressure...
Older adults often assume new prescriptions have no side effects
By
Alicia Lasek
Feb 25, 2021
Clinicians may want to intentionally emphasize side effects when prescribing new medications to older patients, a new study suggests.
Residents may be more open to deprescribing when suggested by physician
By
Alicia Lasek
Feb 19, 2021
Among 300 geriatric inpatients, outpatients and nursing home residents, 33% said they would like to try stopping one of their medications on their own. And a greater number — 87% — said they would...
Biologics linked to lower dementia rate in rheumatoid arthritis: study
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 11, 2020
Investigators found a 17% lower incidence of dementia in patients who take biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs when compared with patients who take conventional, synthetic...