Psychoactive medication use in intermediate-care facility residents

Abstract

A study of medication use among 850 residents of 12 representative\nintermediate-care facilities in Massachusetts shows that despite the growing\nevidence of the risks of psychoactive drug use in elderly patients, this\npopulation was exposed to high levels of sedative/hypnotic and antipsychotic\ndrugs. Choice of medication within a given class was often suboptimal, and\nthe use of standing versus as-needed orders was often not in keeping with\ncurrent concepts in geriatric psychopharmacology. Additional research is\nneeded to determine how best to improve these patterns of medication use. (KIE\nabstract)