Medication use in the elderly patient: focus on the perioperative/perianesthesia setting. 2004

Ann Kuchta, and Julie Golembiewski
Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL 60612-7230, USA. amkuchta@uic.edu

As the population ages, the use of multiple medications also increases. Polypharmacy (taking multiple drugs at a time) presents concerns to the perianesthesia nurse who is caring for the geriatric patient. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs are often altered in older adult patients. Adverse drug reactions and drug interactions occur more often in geriatric patients than in younger patients. For these reasons, the benefits and risks of multiple medications and the administration of certain types of drugs must be carefully considered in the elderly patient. The selection of any medication should be individually based on the benefits and risks. Adverse drug reactions play a significant role in hospitalization for the general population, and the elderly are more susceptible to these. These drug reactions often contribute to significant morbidity as well as mortality. Medications need to be considered carefully in the older adult patient, but perhaps more so in the perioperative/perianesthesia period. Drug interactions are diverse. The type of anesthesia may influence the patient's outcome, depending on the medications the patient is currently taking. The patient's response to the stress of surgery is also affected by individual medical conditions as well as medications the patient is currently receiving Polypharmacy, inappropriate medications, adverse drug reactions, drug-disease issues, and drug interactions in the geriatric population are concerns in the perioperative/perianesthesia setting.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008508 Medication Errors Errors in prescribing, dispensing, or administering medication with the result that the patient fails to receive the correct drug or the indicated proper drug dosage. Drug Use Error,Errors, Medication,High-Alert Drug Error,High-Alert Medication Error,LASA Medication Errors,Look-Alike Drug Name Errors,Look-Alike Sound-Alike Drug Errors,Look-Alike Sound-Alike Drug Substitution Errors,Look-Alike Sound-Alike Medication Errors,Lookalike Drug Name Errors,Lookalike Soundalike Drug Errors,Lookalike Soundalike Drug Substitution Errors,Lookalike Soundalike Medication Errors,Drug Error, High-Alert,Drug Use Errors,Error, Drug Use,Error, LASA Medication,Error, Medication,High Alert Drug Error,High Alert Medication Error,High-Alert Drug Errors,High-Alert Medication Errors,LASA Medication Error,Look Alike Drug Name Errors,Look Alike Sound Alike Drug Errors,Look Alike Sound Alike Drug Substitution Errors,Look Alike Sound Alike Medication Errors,Medication Error,Medication Error, High-Alert,Medication Error, LASA,Medication Errors, High-Alert,Medication Errors, LASA
D010599 Pharmacokinetics Dynamic and kinetic mechanisms of exogenous chemical DRUG LIBERATION; ABSORPTION; BIOLOGICAL TRANSPORT; TISSUE DISTRIBUTION; BIOTRANSFORMATION; elimination; and DRUG TOXICITY as a function of dosage, and rate of METABOLISM. LADMER, ADME and ADMET are abbreviations for liberation, absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicology. ADME,ADME-Tox,ADMET,Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Elimination, and Toxicology,Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Elimination,Drug Kinetics,Kinetics, Drug,LADMER,Liberation, Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Elimination, and Response
D004347 Drug Interactions The action of a drug that may affect the activity, metabolism, or toxicity of another drug. Drug Interaction,Interaction, Drug,Interactions, Drug
D004358 Drug Therapy The use of DRUGS to treat a DISEASE or its symptoms. One example is the use of ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS to treat CANCER. Chemotherapy,Pharmacotherapy,Therapy, Drug,Chemotherapies,Drug Therapies,Pharmacotherapies,Therapies, Drug
D005853 Geriatrics The branch of medicine concerned with the physiological and pathological aspects of the aged, including the clinical problems of senescence and senility. Gerontology
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000367 Age Factors Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time. Age Reporting,Age Factor,Factor, Age,Factors, Age
D000368 Aged A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available. Elderly
D013527 Perioperative Nursing Nursing care of the surgical patient before, during, and after surgery. Surgical Nursing,Nursing, Perioperative,Perianesthesia Nursing,Nursing, Perianesthesia
D019338 Polypharmacy The use of multiple drugs administered to the same patient, most commonly seen in elderly patients. It includes also the administration of excessive medication. Since in the United States most drugs are dispensed as single-agent formulations, polypharmacy, though using many drugs administered to the same patient, must be differentiated from DRUG COMBINATIONS, single preparations containing two or more drugs as a fixed dose, and from DRUG THERAPY, COMBINATION, two or more drugs administered separately for a combined effect. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992) Polymedication

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