Pharmacists Serving Older Adults

Pre-Pharmacy Society at UC Irvine

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Lee Meyer, PharmD, BCGP, FASCP, FCPhA

M2: Pharmacist Services

Who Are Older Americans?

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Who Are Older Americans?

Life Expectancy 2019

10 Myths About Aging

Seniors & Health – 10 Myths

1. Depression & Loneliness are normal in older adults.
2. The older I get, the less sleep I need.
3. Older adults can’t learn new things.
4. It is inevitable that older people will get dementia.
5. Older adults should take it easy and avoid exercise so they don’t get injured.
6. If a family member has Alzheimer’s Disease, I will have it, too.
7. Now that I’m older I will have to give up driving.
8. Only women need to worry about osteoporosis.
9. I’m “too old” to quit smoking.
10. My blood pressure has lowered or returned to normal so I can stop taking my blood pressure medicine.

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https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/10-myths-about-aging

Seniors & Medications�

• People aged 65 and older make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, but account for 34 percent of all prescription medication use and 30 percent of all over-the-counter medication use.^[2]�
• Because older adults often take numerous medications prescribed by multiple health care providers, their risk of having an adverse reaction is greater than that of younger adults.^[3]�
• Among older adults, adverse reactions due to medication can be very serious, including falls, depression, confusion, hallucinations and malnutrition.^[4]
• Nearly one in four older adults skips doses of medication or does not fill prescriptions because of cost.^[5]�
• Memory impairment and sensory changes such as vision loss that often occur among older adults can create challenges for correctly adhering to complex medication regimens.^[6]�
• According to researchers, about 60 percent of older adults take their prescriptions improperly, and approximately 140,000 die each year as a result.^[7]�
• Research shows that older adults who fail to take prescribed medications were 76 percent more likely to experience a significant decline in their overall health than those who took all medications as prescribed.^[8]

Seniors & Medications

• A given dose of a given medication produces a different, and sometimes unexpected response in an older adult compared to a younger patient of the same gender and similar body weight.
• As adults age, medication use increases
• 75% of those 50-64 fill an average of 13 Rxs/yr
• 87% of those 65-79 fill an average of 20 Rxs/yr^¹

¹ https://hpi.georgetown.edu/agingsociety/pubhtml/rxdrugs/rxdrugs.html

Seniors & Medications

Older Adults:

• May have developed (more) illnesses
• May have greater severity of disease
• Are predominantly female/have smaller body size
• May have altered nutritional status
• May have had previous drug reactions
• May be taking drugs with a narrow therapeutic index
• Have a lifetime of developing bad medication management habits
• Have a lifelong history of developing health beliefs

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Seniors & Medications

“Any symptom in an elderly patient should be considered a drug side effect until proven otherwise.”

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Gurwitz, J. MD

Professor, Primary Care Medicine

University of Massachusetts Medical School

Worscester, Massachusetts

Geriatric Syndromes

• The term “geriatric syndrome” is used to capture those clinical conditions in older persons that do not fit into discrete disease categories. Some Examples:
• Delirium
• Falls
• Frailty
• Dizziness/Syncope
• Sleep Disorders
• Urinary incontinence
• Pressure Ulcers
• Elder abuse/neglect
• Dementia
• Parkinson’s Disease

Senior Care Pharmacists

Where Do Senior Care Pharmacists Work?

On Being A Pharmacist…

• Scope of Practice is growing
• Immunizations
• Smoking cessation
• PEP & PrEP
• Collaborative Practice
• Ambulatory Care (Clinic)
• Pharmacy Informatics
• Specialization (BPS)
• Advanced Practice
• More…

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Questions??