Help stop the widespread problem of medication errors among the elderly

The problem of medication errors among the elderly is widespread. Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions tackles this tough issue by closely examining the challenges faced in preventing medication errors in home and community care program settings and putting forth effective solutions to better manage medication use. Respected experts discuss the unique role of the pharmacist in improving patient safety, presenting a comprehensive collection of evidence-based studies featuring national and international viewpoints, cutting-edge interventions, and cost-effective procedures that address medication problems in older adults.

Polypharmacy is the term used for patients receiving too many medications for a specific treatment. The implications for drug-drug interactions can be dangerous for the unaware patient. Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions focuses on several different effective management programs and examines each in detail, completely explaining the positive—and negative—results. This hands-on practical information is useful for all professionals and field providers working with older adults and their medication concerns. The book also provides valuable lessons through the experiences of national home health leaders in various settings—hospital-based, rural, large or small, etc., as well as community-based programs for dually eligable older adults. The book is extensively referenced and includes an abundance of clear, helpful tables, figures, and Web resources.

Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions explores:

• developing computerized risk assessment screenings
• implementing pharmacist-centered interventions
• improving transitional care from hospital to home
• the Prescription Intervention and Lifelong Learning (PILL) program
• Medication Therapy Management Services
• a quality-improvement project to reduce falls and improve medication management
• outcome-based quality improvement for patient safety
• intern programs that can provide cost-effective consultant services

Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions is essential reading for home health care administrators, clinicians, managers, pharmacists, physicians, educators, students, those professionals involved in the field of aging, and health practitioners world-wide.

Reviews:

"IMPORTANT AND TIMELY. . . . Reviews several interventions for high-risk populations in various types of home care, in urban and rural settings. This book increases our understanding of the reasons for medication 'mismanagement' and offers PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING OUTCOMES."

Nancy Whitelaw, PhD, Director, Center for Healthy Aging, The National Council on Aging

"COMPREHENSIVE . . . INVALUABLE TO EVERYONE WORKING IN THE FIELD. Unlike so many publications that simply tell us how bad the problem is, this one shows us some of the proven ways to take action and improve care for our elderly patients. We all need to be thankful for The John A. Hartford Foundation's commitment to the field and editor Denee Frey's talent for putting the results together in such a useful way."

Mark H. Beers, MD, Editor-in-Chief, The Merck Manuals

"TIMELY. . . . PROVIDES CONCRETE STRATEGIES for identifying people at risk of medication problems and for engaging pharmacists in collaborative, home-based efforts to prevent adverse drug events. This book highlights a problem of growing importance in both the US and abroad—how to assure that the multiple medications mobilized to combat illness and promote health are managed in a way that achieves maximum safety and effectiveness for the individuals who rely on them."

Penny Hollander Feldman, PhD, Director, Center for Home Care Policy and Research and Vice President, Research and Evaluation, Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Contents:

• Preface: Bringing New Evidence-Based Tools to Strengthen Practice
• Acknowledgment
• Introduction (Dennee Frey)
• A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Falls and Improve Medication Management (Sandy Sperling, Katie Neal, Kelly Hales, Dale Adams, and Dennee Frey)
• Integration of a Medication Management Model into Outcome-Based Quality Improvement: A Pilot Program in a Rural Proprietary Home Healthcare Agency (Wayne L. Atkinson and Dennee Frey)
• Medication Management Model as Experiential Education Tool for Students of Pharmacy (Darren M. Triller)
• Reaching the Homebound Elderly: The Prescription Intervention and Lifelong Learning (PILL) Program (Bradley R. Williams and Suzanna Lopez)
• Comment on Medication Management Models and Other Pharmacist Interventions: Implications for Policy and Practice (Kathleen A. Cameron)
• Polypharmacy and Possible Drug-Drug Interactions Among Diabetic Patients Receiving Home Health Care Services (Ibrahim A. Ibrahim, Eunjeong Kang, and Kathryn H. Dansky)
• Opportunities for Improving Post-Hospital Home Medication Management Among Older Adults (Janice B. Foust, Mary D. Naylor, Peter A. Boling, and Kimberly A. Cappuzzo)
• Risk of Medication Errors at Hospital Discharge and Barriers to Problem Resolution (Susan M. Enguidanos and Richard D. Brumley)
• Medications Management in Older Persons: What Can Be Achieved in the International Community? (Lilian M. Azzopardi)
• Index
• Reference Notes Included

Number of pages: xxii + 155 pp. with Index.