Doctors Say Medication Is Overused in Dementia

Many times, nursing homes will call doctors practically demanding some sort of medicne for delusional or combative patients.  They will even suggest medicines by name.  Often, these phone calls occur at 3:00 AM, and the doctor gives a quick yes to give them an answer and get back to sleep. To change this, I think nursing homes need some education as well.

Unfortunately many drugs used in the elderly with dementia lead to more side effects than anything helpful.

Aricept, Namenda, Risperdal are grossly overused in the treatment of patients with suspected dementia Many patients with dementia have not received proper diagnosis, and do not receive proper treatment Better public and medical education will hopefully reverse this glaring deficit in our medical systems

We need to look to the cause of why we prescribe antipsychotics to patients with dementia.  We have very few tools to use and sometimes these drugs are a necessity.

Medications used for realistic indications and with clinically appropriate symptomatic targets are indicated and provide effectiveness that additional staff cannot offer.  Decision making in health care is too often made by those who do not really provide clinical service but provide arm chair oversight, rules and regulations that are out of touch with the reality of clinical care needs....

Antipsychotic drugs have been shown to increase morbidity and mortality in demented patients.  These agents are used to keep patients calm and easy to manipulate because there is not enough nursing home staff to adequately care for patients mental and physical needs.  "Chemical straight-jackets", although outlawed by Medicare nursing home regulations, are still commonly used - the latest...