Linda A Moore | PubMed Health

PubMed2002

Medications and the elderly in the critical care setting.

As the elderly population in our country continues to increase, it is imperative that the bedside practitioner be keenly aware of the factors that affect pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medication administration. Refining the admission interview process to obtain accurate medication information--including alternative and OTC drugs--will help to decrease the incidence of drug interactions and ADR in the acute care setting. Appropriate monitoring of pharmacologic effects and organ function will allow the practitioner to better treat the elderly client with as few medications as possible.

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Quilting narrative: using repetition techniques to help elderly communicators.

As we gain a better understanding of narratives presented by both normally aging adults and those with cognitive deficits, we are able to communicate more effectively. We can select more interactive ways to help construct meaning with individuals who appear to have lost the ability to communicate. We can listen for formulaic expressions or colloquial speech, furnish beginnings, echo details, add to endings. We can recall what we were told in an earlier conversation and reintroduce the topic so that the speaker with Alzheimer disease (AD) can recognize information and expand it instead of being asked to recall it. By using the repetition technique of quilting narrative, nurses can help family members see that the person with AD is trying to signal some part of a life event, which helps convey to others who he or she is.

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