Polypharmacy Research Paper

Introduction
The majority of people start complaining about distress and pain when getting older. Trying to recover their health, the elderly consult different doctors and take various pharmaceuticals. Very often they forget the number of the pills they have already taken or decide to take some more, if the discomfort does not pass off immediately. In such cases the problem of polyparmacy occurs.
Polypharmacy
Polypharmacy is defined as an excessive use of unnecessary medications. The research shows that elderly people take more unprescribed medications than prescribed ones. About ¼ of all cases when a person was hospitalized happened because of the overuse of pills. Of course, we got used to the fact that elderly people take more pharmaceuticans than those who are younger, but we cannot live this problem without attention.
There are different reasons for polypharmacy, for example, people may practice self-medicating.
It is possible that they experienced side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, and the doctor considering them to be the symptoms of some other illness prescribes new ones. Maybe the patient consults a number of doctors in different hospitals. Or there might be some misunderstanding between the physician and the patient (Pervin, 2008). The appearance of a range of new medicines helps doctors to choose the best option for each client, but it is also a reason why they prescribe more drugs. Herbal therapy becomes more and more common and the drugs can be taken without consultation. It is also possible to take the same pills in different pharmacies (Wooten & Galavis, 2005).
With aging polypharmacy increases the probability of “drug interactions s and adverse drug reactions, disability and cognitive impairment, falls and fractures, malnutrition, hospitalization and institutionalization, mortality, and rising healthcare costs” (Nobili, Garattini & Mannucci,
2011).
The problem is likely to be solved when patients consult one and the same physician every time they get to the hospital. With age some processes in a human’s body suffer changes. Medicines are distributed into fat or water, and as the elderly have less water in the body, drugs get into the blood. They damage the kidneys, the liver, and a person starts taking new pills in order to throw off the illness, but ruins one’s health even more. To help the elderly overcome this problem, some precautions should be made.
Care Management
Geriatric care management provides the elderly and their families with help in various situations. A care manager is a person who works as a nurse, counsellor or social worker.
Care managers assist the elderly in their everyday life. To find the most appropriate manager, onу needs to clearly understand what is to be improved. They can make an assessment or a plan with recommendations; they can arrange services or check what one needs (Alzheimer’s Association, 2008).
To prevent the repetition of polypharmacy and to reduce its negative influence care managers should check the quality of communication between the patient and the physician. They are to understand which medicines should be taken by an elderly person and which should not. The notes for monitoring the pills are preferred. Care managers should notice the time when the medicines are taken. Finally they should try to explain the harmful consequence.
Conclusion
Taking everything mentioned into account, it can be said that the majority of the elderly faces the problem of polypharmacy. To prevent serious negative effect, families may refer to the geriatric care manager. This manager will monitor the medicines the elderly person takes and assist him/her in everyday life.