Population and Global Health: Medication Adherence in Seniors
Assess the preventive and protective healthcare needs of a community of individuals, including emergency preparedness. Develop a plan for using behavioral change techniques to promote optimum health of a community, include culturally and spiritually sensitive care.
Describe the population/community you have chosen
The elderly are an incredibly high needs population when it comes to the field of professional medicine: they are consistently under-served and struggle very often to get even their most basic health needs met. One of the particular issues that prevents this population from staying healthy is the issue of medication adherence. A lack of proper medication adherence can cause a range of complicated issues and all of these issues are highly preventable: the individual just needs to stay on their medication. Medication adherence in seniors greater than 60 years of age is a primary factor for preventing serious complications from chronic conditions (Ruppar, Conn, & Russel, 2008). Cognitive and physical changes comingled with additional risk factors such as living alone, unable to drive and limited incomes all contribute to a negative outcome for medication compliance (Harkness & DeMarco, 2012).
Moreover, issues like cultural and spiritual beliefs perceived about healthcare can contribute to barriers to medication adherence. Many elderly lack education or and have multiple chronic conditions leading to higher rates of admissions and higher rates of death (Long, S.K., King, J., & Coughlin, T.A., 2006). This population deserves more attention because they're so vulnerable: The elderly are disproportionately at risk for accidental drug overdoses, falls and readmission to the hospital. Furthermore, seniors are more likely to suffer from adverse drug responses from prescription medications complicated by complex drug regiments. With increasing age, many elderly have difficulty understanding due to hearing loss, seeing difficulties and knowledge deficits (Harkness & DeMarco, 2012). Thus, it is absolutely apparent that a strong system needs to be in place to ensure that the members of this population are able to feel comfortable staying on their medication and feel empowered to do so.
Assess preventative/protective health care needs of a population from different data sources and observations.
Select one health care need of a population/community from your assessment, develop, and present a plan for meeting that need.
Seniors are in need of effective education about the medications they take and potential side effects to increase medication compliance. The World Health Organization defines adherence as "The extent to which a person's behavior (taking medications, following a recommended diet and/or executing life-style changes) corresponds with the agreed recommendations of a health care provider" (Sabate, 2003, p. 13) (Ruppar et al., 2008, p. 115). Thus this problem is clearly the result of an epidemic of ignorance: one which causes a rush of readmissions to hospitals, with nurses needing to collaborate with other healthcare professionals and engage as liaisons for the doctors, caregivers, pharmacists, and other people. Nurses have so much potential for bridging this dangerous gap of ignorance as the power and wisdom of the nurse is so great: They can make home care visits and discuss medication regiments to the patient. They can screen and review medication management. Nurses can assess and educate the…
Medication Compliance in Psychotic Disorders Janssen, Birgit., Gaebel, Wolfgang., Haerter, Martin, Komaharadi, F., Lindel, Birgit., & Weinmann, Stefan. (2006 April). "Evaluation of factors influencing medication compliance in inpatient treatment of psychotic disorders. Psychopharmacology 187:229-236. The authors and researchers examine short- and long-term compliance to prescribed antipsychotic drugs. Their objective is to evaluate patient-related and treatment-related factors associated with medication compliance in inpatients with the following diagnoses: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and other psychotic
Medication adherence is delineated as the magnitude to which patients take medications as recommended by their health-care providers. Correct and accurate adherence to a treatment plan, particularly taking medication on a regular basis and as recommended in the prescriptions is a shared clinical challenge not only for clinicians but patients as well. The population growth of older adults continues to magnify and increase with the baby boomer age group almost
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Medication errors have serious direct and indirect results, and are usually the consequence of breakdowns in a system of care…Ten to 18% of all reported hospital injuries have been attributed to medication errors" (Mayo & Duncan 2004: 209). One of the most common reasons that errors in medical administration transpire is miscommunication. On a staff level, errors may occur in terms of the paperwork associated with the patient. The hospital
Patient non-compliance with medication is a problem that can have adverse effects on patient outcomes. Non-compliance with medication can occur in the in-patient or out-patient setting. Leigh (2010) estimates as many as 50% of all prescriptions filled—between one and 1.5 billion—per year are not taken correctly (p. 1). Moreover, there are different types of non-compliance, including taking medications incorrectly, taking the wrong dose or at the wrong frequency, or not
Clinical Application Paper Medication errors are a serious public health problem and they pose a serious threat to patient safety. Medication errors are costly from an economic, human, and social viewpoint since all patients are potentially vulnerable to these errors. It is estimated that in the United States more than 250,000 deaths per year are attributed to medication errors (Dirik, Samur, Seren Intepeler, & Hewison, 2019). Nurses work in a fast-paced
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