This Elder Medication Management Training teaches healthcare providers the importance of safe and effective medication management for elderly patients. They learn to identify risk factors for medication-related problems, prevent errors, and apply best practices in administration. Providers also develop effective communication techniques to ensure patients understand their medications. By mastering these skills, they enhance patient safety, reduce adverse drug events, and improve overall care quality.
What You Will Learn:
- Risk factors that contribute to medication-related problems in the elderly
- Strategies to prevent medication errors
- Effective communication techniques with elderly patients regarding their medications
- Best practices in administering medications
Details:
Course length: 30 minutes; CME: 0.5
Languages: American English
Key features: Audio narration, learning activity, and post-assessment.
American Medical Compliance is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education to physicians. Our Continuing Medical Education (CME) program is committed to enhancing the knowledge, skills, and professional performance of healthcare providers to improve patient care outcomes. Through high-quality educational activities, we aim to address the identified educational gaps and to support the continuous professional development of our medical community. American Medical Compliance designates this activity for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians should only claim this credit for their complete participation in this activity.
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Introduction to Elder Medication Management
The population of the elderly (people more than 65 years old) is around 50 million as per the United States Census Bureau in 2019, and the number is further rising globally.
Multiple chronic conditions accrue with the rising age.
These chronic conditions lead to decreased quality of life, impaired functional ability, increased physical and psychological stress, increased hospitalizations, and total cost of care, including morbidity and mortality.
These patients with a multitude of chronic conditions may require multiple medication regimens.
Polypharmacy is defined as more than ten medications during hospital admission, or more than five medications at discharge used appropriately based on current evidence-based medicine or the use of inappropriate medications and medications without any clinical benefit.
This course teaches healthcare providers the importance of medication management for the growing elderly population. They learn how multiple chronic conditions lead to increased hospitalizations, decreased quality of life, and higher healthcare costs. Providers explore polypharmacy risks, proper medication use, and strategies to prevent adverse effects. By applying these skills, they improve patient safety, reduce medication-related complications, and enhance overall care quality.
Understanding Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics in the Elderly
The ageing process is characterized by structural and functional changes affecting all organ systems and results in reduced homeostatic capacity. The function of a particular system may be maintained during resting conditions. However, the reduction of functional reserve is responsible for an increased vulnerability to stress.
Changes in body composition, hepatic and renal function are responsible for an increase in the volume of distribution of lipid soluble drugs, reduced clearance of lipid soluble and water soluble drugs, respectively. All these changes lead to a prolongation of plasma elimination half-life.
Significant pharmacodynamic changes also occur which, in general, tend to increase sensitivity to drugs. The reduced functional reserve itself also leads to an increase in sensitivity by impairing homeostatic compensatory mechanisms.
A better understanding of the effects of ageing on the clinical pharmacology of therapeutic agents would enhance the quality of prescribing.
This course teaches healthcare providers how age-related physiological changes impact medication use in elderly patients. They learn how reduced organ function, altered drug metabolism, and increased drug sensitivity affect medication effectiveness and safety. Providers explore strategies to adjust dosages, monitor adverse effects, and improve prescribing practices. By understanding these changes, they enhance medication safety, minimize risks, and optimize treatment outcomes for elderly patients.
Comprehensive Medication Review and Reconciliation
Patients often receive new medications or have changes made to their existing medications at times of transitions in care—upon hospital admission, transfer from one unit to another during hospitalization, or discharge from the hospital to home or another facility. Although most of these changes are intentional, unintended changes occur frequently for a variety of reasons.
For example, hospital-based clinicians might not be able to easily access patients’ complete pre-admission medication lists, or may be unaware of recent medication changes.
As a result, the new medication regimen prescribed at the time of discharge may inadvertently omit needed medications, unnecessarily duplicate existing therapies, or contain incorrect dosages. These discrepancies place patients at risk for adverse drug events (ADEs), which have been shown to be one of the most common types of adverse events after hospital discharge.
Medication reconciliation refers to the process of avoiding such inadvertent inconsistencies across transitions in care by reviewing the patient’s complete medication regimen at the time of admission, transfer, and discharge and comparing it with the regimen being considered for the new setting of care.
This course teaches healthcare providers the importance of medication reconciliation in preventing medication errors during care transitions. Providers learn to review and compare medication regimens at admission, transfer, and discharge to avoid omissions, duplications, and incorrect dosages. They explore strategies to access complete medication histories, identify discrepancies, and prevent adverse drug events (ADEs). By mastering medication reconciliation, providers enhance patient safety and ensure continuity of care.
Patient Education and Communication
Research has shown that patients often have difficulty knowing how and when to take their medicines. This is especially if their regimens are complex. It is a safety issue if patients take their medicines incorrectly or not at all. Helping patients understand and remember their medicines increases the chances they will take the medicines they need to get and stay healthy and can reduce errors.
How to Prevent Errors:
Use evidence-based instructions, which are available in English, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Add these instructions to your electronic health record (EHR) for eprescribing.
Include in your prescription a plain language description of what the medicine is for (e.g., “for high blood pressure”).
Discuss and resolve patients’ concerns. Ask patients if anything makes it difficult or prevents them from taking their medicines.
Consider prescribing options.
Suggest patients always check medicine labels. Refills can come in different colors, shapes, and sizes.
This course teaches healthcare providers how to improve medication adherence and prevent errors by ensuring patients understand their prescriptions. Providers learn to use evidence-based instructions, include clear medication purposes in prescriptions, and address patient concerns. By applying these techniques, providers enhance patient safety, reduce medication errors, and support better health outcomes.
