The work of health facilities requires constant monitoring, analysis, and introduction of changes to improve the quality of the services provided. During observation at Hampton VA Medical Center, Community Living Center (CLC), I identified a clinical problem: service providers are negative towards medicating dementia patients. Both doctors and nurses who interact with residents show a pessimistic attitude.
The identified problem is significant due to the needs of patients and the potential consequences of ignoring it. Residents with dementia often suffer from comorbidities and such symptoms as anxiety or aggression and can harm themselves (Lim & Sharmeen, 2018). As a result, prescribing and managing drugs for dementia patients is necessary but quite complicated, as it requires attention to many details, and the residents themselves can resist treatment. The complexity of medication management can lead to errors and subsequent deterioration of the condition.
The difficulties of drug management in dementia are discussed, but the aspect of the staff’s attitude to this process has been little studied. Researchers often consider the perspective of family caregivers or the impact of drugs (Bruce et al., 2020; La Frenais et al., 2021). One can suppose that solving the problem is possible through facilitating medicating. Maidment et al. (2020) argue that process mitigation can be made by informing patients, maintaining their trust in staff, and stability and minimal changes in medication intake. Lim and Sharmeen (2018) support informing and, if possible, involving patients in drug management. The study by Parajuli et al. (2021), in turn, suggests the possibility of reducing the number of prescribed drugs using a musical intervention and person-centered care to reduce patients’ stress. The identified issue of attitudes toward medicating is influential and requires more study to be addressed.
References
Bruce, R., Murdoch, W., Kable, A., Palazzi, K., Hullick, C., Pond, D., Oldmeadow, C., Searles, A., Fullerton, A., Fraser, S., Ling, R., & Attia, J. (2020). Evaluation of carer strain and carer coping with medications for people with dementia after discharge: Results from the SMS dementia study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 8(3), 1-14. Web.
La Frenais, F., Vickerstaff, V., Cooper, C., Livingston, G., Stone, P., & Sampson, E. L. (2021). Psychotropic prescribing for English care home residents with dementia compared with national guidance: findings from the MARQUE national longitudinal study.BJPsych Open, 7(5), 1-7. Web.
Lim, R. H., & Sharmeen, T. (2018). Medicines management issues in dementia and coping strategies used by people living with dementia and family carers: A systematic review.International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 33(12), 1562–1581. Web.
Maidment, I., Lawson, S., Wong, G., Booth, A., Watson, A., Zaman, H., Mullan, J., McKeown, J., & Bailey, S. (2020). Towards an understanding of the burdens of medication management affecting older people: The MEMORABLE realist synthesis.BMC Geriatrics, 20(1), 1-17. Web.
Parajuli, D. R., Kuot, A., Hamiduzzaman, M., Gladman, J., & Isaac, V. (2021). Person-centered, non-pharmacological intervention in reducing psychotropic medications use among residents with dementia in Australian rural aged care homes.BMC Psychiatry, 21(1), 1-11. Web.