STARTing and STOPPing Medications in the Elderly

Click this link for the chart of potentially inappropriate medications, their therapeutic alternatives, and medications to consider initiating in the elderly that incorporates the STOPP and START criteria. Use these lists to identify red flags that might require intervention, not as the final word on medication appropriateness; look at the total patient picture.
(PL Detail-Document, STARTing and STOPPing Medications in the Elderly, Pharmacist's Letter/Prescriber's Letter. September 2011.)

ARMOR: A Tool to Evaluate Polypharmacy in Elderly Persons

Some current strategies available to address this complex issue include “START” (Screening Tool to Alert doctors to the Right Treatment) and “STOPP” (Screening Tool of Older Person’s potentially inappropriate Prescriptions) criteria.  Read the entire article here.

How to avoid polypharmacy

Patients, physicians and pharmacists can work together to help prevent the
problems that might occur if an older adult is taking several medications. Read more here.

Multiple medications: Growing “polypharmacy” problem

(CBSNews) Problems with taking multiple drugs are not limited to drug abusers. In the last 10 years, the percentage of people over 60 who take five or more medications has jumped from 22 percent to 37 percent. CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook looks into the risks. Click on this link to find out more and also view this important video news segment. 

A Bitter Pill

"Medical treatment of elderly people is not working. Worse, it is often harmful", says author Dr. John Sloan, a family physician who has worked primarily with the elderly for more than twenty years. In A Bitter Pill, he examines why medical treatment from modern medicine’s one-size-fits-all prevention strategy to hospital stays that don’t benefit anyone is failing them and identifies solutions to the problem. Find out more from Dr. John Sloan and this topic.
Check out this link for more.

A Bitter Pill: How the Medical System is Failing the Elderly is a much-needed wake-up call alerting us to how we’re treating older patients. I’ve also attached a link to his book to find out more on this topic. Plus, there’s also an audio clip posted that you can download with compelling commentary from Dr. John Sloan.
Click here