Medication Management in Residential Aged Care
All available topics
- Antipsychotic therapy for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, 2011-11-14
- Antibiotic resistance and respiratory tract infections, 2012-05-15
- Drugs for dementia and Alzheimer's Disease, 2009-04-06
- Proton pump inhibitors - the step-down approach, 2009-04-06
- Managing urinary incontinence, 2009-12-08
- COPD and helping smokers to quit, 2010-05-19
- Managing chronic pain, 2010-05-21
Managing sleep and hypnotic medicines
More than 95% of insomnia problems encountered by GPs were managed by hypnotic medicines between 2006–08. Non-drug therapies have comparable efficacy to benzodiazepines and other related drugs, and their use might avoid the need for a hypnotic medicine.
Identifying and addressing underlying causes is the first step to managing insomnia. Rectifying poor sleep practices can vastly improve the quality of sleep for many people, as can the use of behavioural and cognitive therapies.
The latest NPS education program 'Management options to maximise sleep' encourages prescribers to treat insomnia by addressing the causes and discuss with patients and carers the benefits of using non-drug therapies over a hypnotic medicine. It also emphasises the importance of discussing the potential harms of hypnotic medicines to limit their use, and provides strategies for helping patients to stop them.
Avoid use in older people
For some people, getting a good night’s sleep can be a major problem. While the amount of sleep we need may decrease as we get older, the quality of sleep remains important.
Hypnotic medicine use is particularly high in older people, yet this group has a greater risk of adverse effects. These can include fatigue, cognitive impairment and even serious events involving falls, fractures and motor vehicle accidents.
It is important to engage family, carers and staff in aged care facilities in supporting patients who are attempting to stop or reduce their use of hypnotic medicines.
If drug treatment cannot be avoided in older people, warn patients and their carers about the potential adverse effects. Long-acting drugs (e.g. diazepam) should not be prescribed in older people as they can accumulate and cause excessive sedation.
NPS seminars for seniors
In partnership with the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia, NPS has developed seminars to raise awareness of medicines use problems among seniors of non-English speaking backgrounds.
The seminars will be held from 1 March to 30 June around the country with Chinese, Italian, Greek, Vietnamese and Arabic speaking seniors. The seminars are titled:
- Safe and wise use of medicines
- Sleep and ageing
What resources are available?
- The Australian Psychological Society provides an online search tool and referral service to find a psychologist who provides behavioural and cognitive therapies for insomnia
- Members of the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) who specialise in behavioural and cognitive therapies for insomnia are listed on the ASA website
- For more information about good sleep practices and behavioural and cognitive therapies for insomnia, refer to the materials in Veterans MATES Therapeutic Brief 18
You can read more about insomnia in:
- NPS News 67 – Addressing hypnotic medicines use in primary care
- Go to the resource page.
Download PDF now.
- Prescribing Practice Review 49: Management options for improving sleep
- Go to the resource page.
Subscribe
You can participate in:
- NPS Case Study 62: Maximising sleep and minimising potential harms
- Go to the resource page.
Download PDF now.
- Drug Use Evaluation (DUE) tool: Hypnotic medicines for the management of insomnia in aged care facilities
- Educational visiting by NPS facilitators
- Small group discussions led by NPS facilitators
