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Medicine use in older people's inpatient mental health services
Author(s) -
BAKER J. A.,
KEADY J.,
HARDMAN P.,
KAY J.,
JONES L.,
JOLLEY D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2009.01528.x
Subject(s) - medicine , mental health , audit , medical prescription , family medicine , pharmacotherapy , psychiatry , nursing , management , economics
Accessible summary• Aging increases the risks associated with medicines. • Complex regimes of medicines are used with older people in mental health services. • Mental Health Nurses need to consider their skills and knowledge in dealing with these complex regimes.Abstract The aims of this audit were to establish the range and volumes of medicines used in older people's mental health settings and to explore the safety of the prescribing habits through the application of the revised Beers criteria. An audit of all patients on all selected wards (both functional and organic) for current prescriptions of all drugs routinely prescribed on the census day was undertaken on 11 wards in three Mental Health NHS Trusts in the North West of England. Data were collected on 154 patients in 11 different inpatient settings in three Mental Health Trusts. A total of 153 patients had 882 prescriptions of 196 drugs (mean 5.8 drugs). Most frequently prescribed drugs were aspirin ( n = 57, 6.5%), paracetamol ( n = 36, 4.1%) and quetiapine ( n = 35, 4.0%). Nine of the 48 potentially inappropriate medicines in the revised Beers criteria had been prescribed, although at within appropriate limits. The audit highlights the complexity of poly‐pharmacotherapy in older adults admitted to mental health services. Further works needs to establish whether nurses have the clinical knowledge and skills to ensure safe practice. There appears to be continued variation in prescribing practice.