Friday, March 7, 2008

Low Risk, Heavy Drugs - State's Nursing Homes Might Be Overusing Antipsychotics

Connecticut's nursing homes dole out antipsychotic drugs to residents who do not have psychotic disorders at one of the highest rates in the country, raising questions about whether the medications are being used to subdue agitated patients because of a lack of staffing and attention to alternate treatments.

Federal data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that since 2005, Connecticut has consistently ranked in the top four states in the prevalence of antipsychotic drugs dispensed to nursing home residents who have no psychotic or related conditions. In the most recent quarterly report, through September 2007, only Louisiana had a higher prevalence rate than Connecticut, where more than 26 percent of residents who lacked an appropriate psychiatric diagnosis were prescribed antipsychotics.

Nationally, the prevalence rate is 19.8 percent, with several states, such as Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, well below that average.

"This is not a good indicator" for Connecticut, said Charlene Harrington, an expert on nursing home quality and professor of sociology and nursing at the University of California-San Francisco. "One of the main factors [for a high medication rate] is not having enough staff. If patients are having behavioral problems, it's easier to give them a pill to keep them quiet" than to hire more staff. "It's cheaper. They'll sleep a lot."

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