Medicines management in care homes for older people: the nurse's role

Increasing attention is being paid to the inappropriate use of medicines in UK care homes for older people. While polypharmacy may sometimes be necessary, older people can be particularly sensitive to the effects of medicines due to physiological chances, while the effect of a mixture of medicines is often unknown. The harmful consequences of inappropriate prescribing for older people unnecessarily add to overall health-care expenditure and the workload of staff. Community nurses can play an important role in attenuating some of these problems while enhancing the quality of life of older people in care homes. The growing population of older people and burgeoning health-care expenditure on medicines demands that greater attention is given to medicine management among older people so that the efficacy of therapeutic regimes are maximized.