Medication management, antidepressant drugs, and the elderly: an overview. |
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Authors: | M Smith K C Buckwalter |
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Affiliation: | Abbe Center for Community Mental Health, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405. |
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Abstract: | 1. Several factors may affect an elderly client's use of medications: polypharmacy, potentially leading to interactions; over-the-counter drugs taken without a physician's knowledge; noncompliance or poor compliance with medication regimens; and ageist beliefs. 2. Psychiatric nurses must be aware that the signs and symptoms they observe may be the result of normal physical or biological aging, psychosocial changes, disease-related changes, medication side effects, or a drug interaction. 3. Nurses must ask two questions when psychotropic drugs are used with elderly clients: What will be the onset, duration, magnitude, and characteristic action of a specific drug in an individual; and What are the characteristics of an "ideal" medication? |
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