Institutional Abuse: Nursing Home Issues
Author: Dana Shilling.
Source: Volume 11, Number 02, Fall 2018 , pp.85-89(5)
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Abstract:
This article sounds a warning against a hazardous practice that has decreased somewhat in recent years yet continues to be commonplace among nursing homes serving vulnerable elderly residents: the promiscuous prescribing of psychoactive drugs, especially the antipsychotics—haloperidol (Haldol), risperidone (Risperdal), and quetiapine (Seroquel). These drugs, along with the sedative-hypnotics—benzodiazepines and sleeping agents (“z-drugs”)-have been tied to an increased risk of all sorts of negative outcomes among seniors, including falls, broken bones, automobile accidents, and dementia. Author Dana Shilling covers the gamut of these problems, recommending the “de-prescribing” of medication and the efforts lodged by various governmental bodies to curtail the harmful overuse of these agents.Keywords: Sedatives and elders; overuse of benzodiazepines
Affiliations:
1: Editor, Victimization of the Elderly & Disabled.