Learning Center
Special Considerations for Geriatric Patients and Drug Therapy
While older adults age 65 and older make up only 12.8% of the nation's total population, these folks consume 33% of prescribed medications. Acuity, co-morbidities, polypharmacy, higher sensitivity, and individual variation to therapies all contribute to this excessive consumption. Nurses play a critically important role in promoting adherence for all drug therapies: oral, injection, and infusion medications. This session will review the contributing factors to disproportionate drug therapy consumption for the older adult population, discuss pathophysiology and sensitivity to drug therapy, and the growing costs associated with nonadherence. By the end of the session participants will be able to identify key initiatives health care providers can implement immediately to promote drug therapy adherence.
Learning Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this session, attendees will be able to discuss the contributing factors to disproportionate drug therapy consumption for the older adult population, pathophysiology and sensitivity to drug therapy, and what actions to take to promote drug therapy adherence.
Jessica McNish, BSN, RN, CHFN, CRNI®
Jessica J. McNish, BSN, RN, CHFN, CRNI®, has 15 years of both inpatient and outpatient nursing experience, with a focus on cardiology and heart failure patients. Jessica manages a nationwide, outpatient heart failure program that specifically cares for complex, end stage patients. She is also currently pursuing a master’s degree in nursing from Texas Tech University, with a concentration on the geriatric population. Jessica is certified as both a heart failure nurse and an infusion nurse.
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