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FRIDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- Two new studies show that specific training and tools can help young doctors do a better job of prescribing medications for their elderly patients.
Seniors face added challenges with prescriptions, especially since many tend to take multiple medications at one time. Avoiding their greater susceptibility to side effects and higher risk of drug interactions, and finding solutions to their possible physical, mental or financial impairments to maintaining dosing schedules were the focus of the studies, scheduled to be presented this week in Chicago at the American Geriatrics Society's Annual Scientific Meeting.
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One study looked at a four-week program in "thoughtful prescribing" for elderly patients taught to internal medicine residents at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Maryland. In addition to classroom learning, the students used special worksheets to review their patients' use of prescription and over-the-counter medicines.
"Although fundamentals of pharmacology are taught in medical school, it is during residency that one's prescribing practices are developed. Our hope is that by using a more deliberate approach to prescribing, we can teach doctors habits that result in more safe and sensible care for their vulnerable patients," report lead author Dr. Lynsey Brandt, of Johns Hopkins, said in an American Geriatrics Society news release.
The program resulted in nearly three-quarters of the residents learning their patients had been prescribed medicines that could interact with other medicines they were already on. In addition, about 22 percent learned their older patients had received at least one potentially inappropriate prescription medication.
"Our findings show that a brief, self-directed tool can be utilized to increase residents' awareness of important principles of prescribing," Brandt said.
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-- Kevin McKeever
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