Getting through the transitions in life…
Help ease the transition for your loved one by being educated on the tools and resources that can help them live a long, healthy life!
When you are young, you dream of growing up, getting married and having children….but you never dream about taking care of your elderly parents. That isn’t part of the ten year plan. But things happen, life happens, and it is inevitable, we all get older and some of us will require a caregiver to take care of us as we age.
Those who work in eldercare understand and interact with caregivers on a day-to-day basis. Some are part of the “sandwich generation” who are caring for kids, grandkids and parents all at the same time. As you can imagine, this lifestyle can wear you down and take a toll on the caregivers health.
Becoming a caregiver for someone you love sometimes comes sudden due to an illness or accident. When that time comes, will you be prepared? There is no handbook, or step-by-step instructions on what to do, how to do it – or if you are even doing it correctly. You step in and do what you consider the best you can do. But so many choices.
One problem with elderly adults is the amount of medications they are taking. Some go from doctor to doctor, with a different diagnosis each time, and a whole new stack of prescriptions. Some even jump around to different pharmacies making it difficult for any clinical caregiver to keep track. This is dangerous.
Polypharmacy (the use of four or more medications by a patient, generally adults aged over 65 years) can cause falls and a whole host of other problems. Not to mention, do you even know if the medications they are taking are giving them therapy? Are they experiencing one reaction after another because their medications are interacting with each other? How would you know?
At PGx Medical, we have a sayIng, “You don’t know, what you don’t know.” Even a physician or pharmacist can’t predict how your body will respond to certain medications. So how would you know?
According to the AACP, polypharmacy has a high price tag. The economic impact of medication-related problems is estimated at $177.4 billion per year, rivaling that of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Plus adverse effects brought on by the combination of multiple drugs are thought to be responsible for nearly a third of all hospital admissions. Each year 32,000 seniors suffer hip fractures caused by medication-related problems. Its simple: They are overmedicated, feel dizzy when they stand up, and fall. Or worse, get behind the wheel of a car.
Now there is a simple test, pharmacogenetics, that can help guide healthcare professionals when dosing medications. Pharmacogenetics aligns current and future medications with each persons unique genetic profile. In other words, it will tell your physician what medications your body can metabolize, which medications might need a dosage change, and which medications are interacting…all personalized for each individual. Right drug, right dose, for the right person.
So why aren’t more healthcare professionals using pharmacogenetics in their day-to-day patient care? That is a good question. Some say it is because it is too new. Pharmacogenetics has been around for decades. And along the way, the FDA has added pharmacogenetic information (black box warnings) on certain medications suggesting a pharmacogenetic test be done prior to prescribing the medications.
We also hear from clinical caregivers that these tests are draining medicare dollars. Yes, this once in a lifetime test is fully reimbursed by Medicare, but this is based on cost savings. In fact, performing a pharmacogenetic test on elderly patients who are on multiple medications can save medicare dollars. Think about it…if you reduce a patients medications to “only” the ones that the pharmacogenetic report says they can metabolize and should give them therapy, you are saving money on unnecessary medications, and you are helping prevent future falls or re-hospitalization due to drug-on-drug interactions.
According to the CDC, in 2015, costs for falls to Medicare alone totaled over $31 billion. Medications play a big role in falls in elderly patients.
The more educated healthcare professionals are on pharmacogenetics, the more they understand the value and impact it can have on improving the quality of care in elderly adults. Our most fragile patients who are dependent on us to make sure we provide them the best care possible. All of this starts with the caregiver. Whether you are a family member, friend, or POA for an elderly adult, check into pharmacogenetics and other available tools and resources that can help provide a longer, healthier life – and make your job as caregiver a lot easier.
For more information on pharmacogenetics, contact PGx Medical, info@pgxmed.com or 405-509-5112