Karen’s Korner,
According to an article from Healthy Lifestyles, from The Mayo Clinic, we find the following information: “As you get older, your body goes through many changes. These changes can affect the way your body handles medicine. The changes often affect parts of the body that are used to break down medicines, such as the liver and kidneys. As you age, these organs don’t work as well, which can cause medicines to build up to high levels or stay in the body for too long. This can cause side effects. So, you may become more sensitive to certain medicines or completely unable to take others.”
Some medications may have side effects because they interact with another medicine, food, drinks, supplements or herbal products. “Older people are twice as likely to have side effects from medicines. These effects also may be more severe in older adults.” (Mayo Clinic)
To prevent medication errors follow the rights of medication administration:
- Right patient
- Right drug
- Right dose
- Right time
- Right route
- Right recording
- Right assessment
- Right education
- Right evaluation
- Right to refuse medication
For further information contact the Council on Aging.