{"id":21185,"date":"2019-01-22T05:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=21185"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:32:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:32:54","slug":"medication-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/medication-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Medication Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day, millions of Americans start their morning the same way: with a handful of prescription pills. In fact, nearly\u00a0a third of all\u00a0adults take\u00a0five or more<\/a>\u00a0medications\u00a0regularly. In senior living communities, the number is even higher with the average resident consuming a staggering 12-14 medications<\/a>\u00a0per day, thanks, in part, to a concept known as the prescribing cascade. This begins when a \"\"drug is prescribed, an adverse drug event (ADE) occurs, and the symptoms are misinterpreted as an entirely new medical condition, for which an additional medication is prescribed.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0advancements\u00a0in\u00a0science\u00a0and technology, doctors and their patients\u00a0now have\u00a0thousands of different drugs\u00a0to\u00a0choose from.\u00a0The\u00a0influx of\u00a0medications available on the market\u00a0has caused prescription drug use to explode,\u00a0growing\u00a085%<\/a>\u00a0over the last two decades. This trend is\u00a0exacerbated by\u00a0a massive\u00a0number of\u00a0aging\u00a0baby boomers, many of whom\u00a0will soon require care.\u00a0How can caregivers in the senior living industry manage medications and mitigate risk in an increasingly drug-dependent world?<\/p>\n

One of the simplest strategies to implement is called the five rights:<\/p>\n

The Right Drug<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prescription medications often have names that are easily\u00a0mixed up.\u00a0To minimize confusion between those that look or sound alike, the FDA reviews about 300 drug names a year before they hit the market\u2014and about one-third of the names drug companies propose are rejected.\u00a0For this reason, it\u2019s critical to double or triple check the order with the label on the prescription packaging.<\/p>\n

The Right Route<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are more than fifteen\u00a0ways to administer\u00a0medication, so never make assumptions. A pill, for instance, can be swallowed, crushed or held inside the cheek. Check that the medication can be given as ordered. If it\u2019s an injection, check to see if it should be administered intravenously or intramuscularly. And if the medication lacks specific instructions, ask.<\/p>\n

The Right Dose<\/strong><\/p>\n

Improper dosing is the number one contributing factor to fatal drug errors. When people age, there are changes in the way the body\u00a0absorbs, distributes,\u00a0metabolizes and excretes medications, and as such, extra\u00a0care\u00a0must be taken in determining drug doses\u00a0for older adults, especially those in senior living facilities who take many medications each day.<\/p>\n

The Right Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unless a prescription says take \u201cas needed,\u201d be sure to heed the timing instructions given by the pharmacist. Read the order carefully and check the medication administration record. Administering medications, especially antibiotics, haphazardly can significantly reduce their effectiveness.<\/p>\n

The Right Patient<\/strong><\/p>\n

It sounds like a no-brainer, but with so much attention given to confirming medication specifics, the most basic thing to check can be overlooked: the patients themselves. Always confirm residents\u2019 identity by looking at a wrist band or photo IDs. Ask residents to tell you their name and date of birth, and if they can\u2019t tell you, find out if there\u2019s a family member or physician on hand to verify their identification.<\/p>\n

The five rights checklist above is commonly used by health care providers to ensure proper medication administration and reduce the risk of ADEs. While it\u2019s regarded as a standard for safety, the five rights protocol is only a target <\/em>for safe medication practices, not the definitive solution. In fact, many critics argue that the five rights are insufficient for mitigating risk because they do not take into account the significant contribution of human factors to errors. The good news is there are many new alternative solutions available, such electronic health records (EHRs) like Yardi EHR<\/a>, which flag potentially dangerous drug interactions before they happen, alert staff if medications are missed and keep track of medications previously administered, among other things.<\/p>\n

To learn more about how EHRs aid caregivers in medication management, download Yardi\u2019s free white paper <\/a>or read about Yardi EHR here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day, millions of Americans start their morning the same way: with a handful of prescription pills. In fact, nearly\u00a0a third of all\u00a0adults take\u00a0five or more\u00a0medications\u00a0regularly. In senior living communities, the number is even higher with the average resident consuming a staggering 12-14 medications\u00a0per day, thanks, in part, to a concept known as the prescribing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":21186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2952],"tags":[1023,2598,2599,842,2424,2438],"class_list":["post-21185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-senior-living","tag-ehr","tag-medication","tag-medication-management","tag-senior-living","tag-yardi-ehr","tag-yardi-senior-living-suite"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every day, millions of Americans start their morning the same way: with a handful of prescription pills. 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