A report called Looking for Balance has provided a snapshot of the current state of antipsychotic medication use in Ontario long-term care homes and reveals there is wide variation across homes in the percentage of residents being prescribed these medications.
An (earlier) Ontario Health Ministry study, commissioned after the Toronto Star began investigating the practice, found nearly half of Ontario nursing home residents aged 65-79 were being given antipsychotic and sedative drugs. Many residents are given antipsychotic medications to improve their quality of life, but use of these medications has sparked debate because of their potential to cause serious side effects.
The use of antipsychotic medications in residents of Ontario’s long-term care homes is a complex and often contentious issue. It is also too important to ignore.– Looking for Balance
The new report [link opens to PDF] identifies opportunities to learn from patients and families, and long-term care teams too who have made changes to improve the lives of Ontarians living in long-term care. In homes across the province, care teams are addressing antipsychotic medication use by applying a range of approaches such as tracking medication data, assessing residents on a person-by-person basis, and engaging families. It was published by Health Quality Ontario, an independent government agency created in 2005.
“Every jurisdiction is struggling with this issue.” — Dr. Joshua Tepper, in The Globe and Mail
A separate report issued in April 2015 showed that more than a third of British Columbia care home residents were prescribed antipsychotic medications in 2012-13, although only four per cent had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.
We speak with Dr. Joshua Tepper, who is a family physician as well as the president and chief executive officer of Health Quality Ontario. (Image of Dr. Tepper, above, by Getty Images)
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audio | @tepperjd @HQOntario report on use of antipsychotic meds in seniors homes #cdnhealth http://t.co/N9YccLzFPz pic.twitter.com/YhBZbVfh3V
— People First Radio (@peoplefirstrad) May 29, 2015
