Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™

An interesting study released a few months ago confirmed what many of us have long suspected...the more doctors seniors
see, the greater their risk for dangerous drug errors.

An analysis of prescription drug alerts conducted by Medco Health Solutions, Inc. found that the greater the number of physicians seen by a patient over age 65, the greater the number of prescriptions the patient fills, and thus the greater the risk for dangerous drug errors, including drug-to-drug interactions, under or over-utilization of drugs, duplication of therapies and incorrect dosages.

These findings certainly raise serious concerns about how well different doctors and specialists caring for older patients exchange information about the medications they are prescribing. In our experience, the answer is "not well at all."

The study found that seniors receiving prescriptions from two
different physicians filled an average of 27 prescriptions a year, and were at risk for 10 potential prescription drug errors. However, when the care team consisted of five doctors, the number of prescriptions filled in one year jumped to 42, and the number of potential drug errors jumped to 16 (a 60% increase).

Given that the number of specialists we see as we get older is probably not going to decrease, the best advice is to have a family member or trusted friend accompany an older person to doctors' appointments. That person can make sure that every doctor knows what all the others are prescribing.

If family or friends aren't available, consider hiring a qualified caregiver to do this and report back to you about what happened during the visit.

Just about everyone tries to give care they can take pride in. There are times, though, that we would do ourselves and our elder a favor if we relax our standards just a bit. Some things are just fine if they're "good enough" instead of perfect:

• Most people don't need a full bath every day - try switching to a sponge-down between baths or showers.

• We don't have to have three hot meals every day. A sandwich, fruit, even a bowl of cereal make a fine lunch or light supper.

• If your elder isn't planning on having tea with the Queen today, does it really matter whether outfits match? If she wants to wear plaid and polka dots, and the plaid & polka dots are clean, so be it.