Doctors will have to justify prescribing the antipsychotic drug risperidone for longer than 12 weeks. But that won’t fix the problem of using drugs to manage aged care residents’ behaviour.
- Senior Lecturer in Dementia Care, University of Tasmania
Antipsychotic drugs are often used to “chemically restrain” aged care residents and control their behaviour. The system needs to change – but lessons from the US tell us it’s not going to be easy.
Because of their sedative effect, antipsychotic medications are often used – in fact they are over-used – to “manage” people with dementia. This is against clinical guidelines.
Psychotropic drugs are being over-used in Australian aged-care facilities to chemically restrain residents, according to both researchers and several government reports. But despite all this attention…
Reviews by specially-trained pharmacists of the medication taken by elderly people have been funded by the federal government for over 15 years now. But a secret deal followed by a sudden announcement…
A visit to the pharmacy for pain relief can be complicated. As consumers, we are faced with a bewildering choice of pain relief options. But why? Within the Nurofen range we have Nurofen for back pain…
Last night ABC’s Lateline discussed the case of 63-year-old John Burns, who died within 12 days of going into residential aged care. Burns was put into care after he started to display disinhibited sexual…
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