Module 3: When Wrong Things Happen with Medications:
Risk and Prevention - The Role of the Medication Team in Preventing and Managing Problems with Medications
Module 3 addresses:
- Conditions leading to ADEs in nursing homes and other long term care settings.
- Optimal drug prescribing practices for older adults.
- Roles of various health care professionals and caregivers in medication management.
- A quality improvement approach to preventing ADEs.
When Wrong Things Happen with Medications:
Risk and Prevention - The Role of the Medication Team in Preventing and Managing Problems with Medications
Written by:
Donna Miller, DO
Director, Geriatrics Institute
St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network
Bethlehem, PA
Reviewed and updated in fall 2006 by:
Johanne Louis-Taylor, MSN, CRNP, and
GEC Series Editors
Reviewed and updated in spring 2012 by:
Donna M.Lisi, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, and
Tamara Zurakowski, PhD, GNP-BC
Older adults, particularly nursing home residents, are especially vulnerable to Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) due to the number of drugs prescribed for them, prolonged use of medications or inappropriate prescribing practices. An ADE can be defined as an injury resulting from the use of a drug and includes any type of medication error. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) differentiate between adverse drug reactions, unexpected responses to a medication, and medication errors, which are mistakes in the prescription or administration of medications. Both will be addressed in this module as ADEs.
Medication use in long term care settings is highly regulated, a practice that started with the landmark Nursing Home Reform act of 1987. Many updates and revisions have been made to those initial regulations, based on research on the specific problems that older adults may experience with medications. Licensed nurses who work with older adults must take the time to remain up-to-date on the evolving information about medicating older people.
A team approach is very useful in reducing medication errors and optimizing drug-prescribing practices. Such a team includes at the core nurses, physicians, and consulting pharmacist,
and is enhanced by dietician, speech-language, occupational and physical therapists as well as nursing assistant, recreational, music, social work and chaplaincy staff.
The teaching materials for this module include a PowerPoint presentation with speaker's notes and a video. Please make sure to download the video as the PowerPoint presentation makes mention of the video.
If you are using Firefox on a PC, right click on the video link and
select, "Save link as...." If you are using Internet Explorer you will
select, "Save Target As...."
If you are using a Mac, press the Control key and click on the video link and then select "Save link as...".
If you would like to create handouts from the PowerPoint file for your attendees and do not know how, please visit the following link:
How to Create Handouts for Attendees from PowerPoint
If you would like to create a printout of the slides that also contains the notes for the instructor, please visit the following link:
How to Create Notes Pages for Presenters in PowerPoint
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Teaching Materials
Generic module files:
How to Use This Module
Logistics Checklist
Module-specific files:
Module 3: Medications: Introduction
Module 3: Medications: Key Concepts
Module 3: Medications: Learning Objectives
Module 3: Medications: Instructor's PowerPoint Slides with Notes
Module 3: Medications: Video
Module 3: Medications: Pre-Test and Answer Key
Module 3: Medications: Post-Test and Answer Key
Module 3: Medications: Participant Evaluation
Module 3: Medications: References List