Understanding the progressive nature of dementia can help in the decision to continue or discontinue dementia medications in patients on hospice care for end-stage dementia. Goals change as patients progress from mild to severe dementia. In mild to moderate dementia, the primary goal is to slow the progression of the disease. As dementia nears its…
Hospice patients often communicate allergies to medications. When the medication is an opioid, hospice staff often have to determine whether the reaction that the patient believed to be an allergy is truly an allergy and whether the reaction necessitates the avoidance of certain opioids. True allergies involve an immune response; other reactions can fall into…
Meeting the Conditions of Participations (CoPs) medication review requirements is important. However, even more important is ensuring that the pharmacist performing the reviews is aware of all pertinent patient co-morbidities. A complete list of co-morbidities is valuable in order to ensure that all potential disease-state/medication interactions are detected and the appropriate interventions are made. Nursing…