ED Medication Errors

Common ED Medication Errors: Polypharmacy

emDocs - July 3, 2017 - Author: Fontes K - Edited by: Koyfman A & Long B

"Take home points

1. Avoid using the serum creatinine value to make decisions about drug dosing in older patients. Use GFR or calculate creatinine clearance (CrCl).
2. When prescribing to older adults, minimize the number of CNS medications and their cumulative anticholinergic burden as much as possible.
3. Use caution when prescribing new medications to elderly patients already taking antidiabetic agents, calcium channel blockers, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, as drug-drug interactions with these agents can lead to falls and delirium.
4. Consider using a validated screening tool to identify and avoid potentially inappropriate medications and drug combinations in older patients (MAI and STOPP/START may be more appropriate to the ED setting)."