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Three tips to evaluate a patient’s falls risk
Pharmacy Regulation Resource, November 17, 2004
Pharmacy's involvement in helping reduce patient falls just got more important, as a new National Patient Safety Goal requires hospitals to assess risk factors, including those associated with medications.
The new JCAHO National Patient Safety Goal takes effect January 1. Including pharmacists on the patient falls team and having them review a patient's medication history is crucial to meeting the goal.
Keep these important tips in mind when reviewing patients' medications and assessing their falls risk, says Dave Merryfield, clinical pharmacy programs manager at Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, VA:
- Check to see if the patient needs all the medications prescribed. Are they all appropriate for treatment? Can the drug regimen be simplified?
- Look at the adverse effects of medications.
- Check the medication schedule. For example, when do you schedule a patient's diuretics? Will the patient have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom?
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