Thursday, October 15, 2015: 10:15 AM-11:45 AM
Texas A (Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center) - Convention Center - Level 3
Primary Presenter:
Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD, BCPS, CPE
,
Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Annapolis, MD
Patients with advanced illnesses often present with a myriad of symptoms, which may be difficult to differentiate. To this end, practitioners are often tempted to initiate a polypharmacy regimen, including the famous HAM sandwich – Haldol, Ativan and Morphine! Indiscriminate use of several psychoactive medications (especially CNS depressants) dramatically increase the risk of therapeutic misadventure for this fragile population. This session will illustrate discriminating assessment techniques useful in distinguishing between common presenting symptoms such as anxiety, delirium and physical pain, and how to select and dose these medications.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe why practitioners often automatically reach for haloperidol, lorazepam and morphine to treat end of life symptoms, and the unintended consequences of this action
2. List discriminating assessment techniques useful to distinguish between anxiety, delirium and physical discomfort, and how this drives drug-therapy decision-making
3. Given an actual or simulated case of a patient with an advanced illness, assess the patient and make patient-specific recommendations for drug therapy to treat anxiety, and/or delirium, and/or physical discomfort
CE/CME: Pharmacist, Nurse, Physician and Social Worker