The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report in 2011 finding that antipsychotic drugs given to elderly residents of nursing homes were not administered in compliance with standards set forth by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Such medications, when used…
A recent study observed polypharmacy in nursing home residents. While previous studies have confirmed the dangers of polypharmacy in the elderly, this study is unique because it specifically focuses on patients with cognitive disorders. Approximately 60% of nursing home residents suffer from some type of cognitive disorder. Patients with cognitive…
A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association, looks into the care of dementia in nursing homes. The researchers focused the diagnosis and treatment aspects of dementia, finding very low levels of each in nursing homes in the US and across Europe. Knowledge about dementia and…
Depression is a cognitive disorder that plagues one out of every ten Americans. Osteoporosis a bone disease, is also extremely widespread in the American population. Both are especially common in the elderly, and recently, researchers believe they may have found a link between the two. An article published in the…
Antipsychotic drugs, intended to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, are the most commonly abused class of drugs in Los Angeles nursing homes. Despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that using antipsychotic drugs to treat dementia patients can be fatal, one in four California nursing home residents…
Dementia is a degenerative disease that can cause many behavioral and psychological symptoms that make patients difficult to care for. Although medications for these symptoms exist, not many studies have been able to provide conclusive evidence that medications such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are actually directly involved in relieving symptoms of…
A recent article titled, “Comparative Safety of Antipsychotic Medications in Nursing Home Residents” was published by the Journal of American Geriatrics Society. As reported by the article, an entire third of nursing home patients are prescribed antipsychotics at some point during their residence. Because such a large population of nursing…
Nursing home residents who suffer from dementia often also suffer from coexisting depression. Depression can cause a greater cognitive decline in dementia patients. However, because the overlapping symptoms of depression and dementia such as atypical presentation, lack of insight, and expression difficulties are often overlooked, nursing home residents who suffer…
An article in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of American Medical Directors Association titled “Is Your Nursing Home a Battlefield?” address the issue of dementia-related agitation in skilled nursing facilities. The article makes the analogy that nursing homes are often comparable to battlefields when dementia patients experience episodes…
While we are fortunate to be living in a modern world that is constantly making advancements in the field of medicine, the side effects of pharmaceuticals can often be dangerous and have implications that must be assessed. The March issue of the Journal of American Medical Directors published an article…