Medication overdose in Nursing Homes
Nursing home residents are often in need of pharmacological drugs for diverse reasons. However, sinister acts have been reported overtime whereby nursing residents are overdosed by unscrupulous staff due to varied reasons. Medication overdose in nursing homes involves giving residents higher doses than the prescribed dose. The major driving factor according to Paulozzi, (2012) is to subdue the residents. Research by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) documents this worrying trend and records that in excess of 17% of residents in nursing homes across the U.S receive more than the needed dosage of antipsychotic drugs daily (NCHS, 2013). This number is higher in some states with the figure reaching over 70% in Florida for instance. A more worrying observation is that some nursing home administrators condone this vice and see it as an effective control measure. Whereas it is not illegal to restrain some patients using chemical drugs, cases of abuse in the form of overdose are unacceptable since the resident’s quality of life may dip greatly.
Food allergy in Nursing Homes
Not all people can eat all food types. This observation is particularly true in Nursing homes as Sterns, Miller and Allen (2010) opines. Reactions are bound to happen when some residents are exposed to certain foods. This then calls for Nursing homes catering staff, to furnish the staff and visitors with sufficient knowledge concerning the adverse reactions produced by some foods to the residents in the nursing homes. Failure to mitigate against plausible adverse effects from allergic foods has been documented to cause fatal cases and casualties (Diesner, et al., 2010, pp. 30-32). It is thus essential for caterers to fulfill their legal obligations in declaring allergens which are present in foods. In so doing, adverse effects will be avoided in nursing homes.
References
Diesner, S. C., Untersmayr, E., Pietschmann, P., & Jensen-Jarolim, E. (2010). Food allergy: only a pediatric disease?. Gerontology, 57(1), 28-32.
National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, & Prevention (CDC) (Eds.). (2015). Health, United States, 2013, with special feature on prescription drugs. Government Printing Office.
Paulozzi, L. J. (2012). Prescription drug overdoses: a review. Journal of safety research, 43(4), 283-289.
Sterns, S., Miller, S. C., & Allen, S. (2010). The complexity of implementing culture change practices in nursing homes. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 11(7), 511-518.
