DULUTH, MN (Northland's Newscenter)---Thousands of residents in hundreds of nursing homes in Minnesota are routinely given powerful anti-psychotropic medication to make them more manageable for staff.
Now, Ecumen Nursing homes have launched the Awakening program to help reduce the amount of psychotropic medicine prescribed to their patients.
Over prescription of drugs has become a troublesome trend throughout the medical community.
"It's a service system and industry, that we've created this ourselves," said Doug Aretz, Executive Director. "By throwing medications at the cure the immediate the immediate cure of a treatment or condition."
Records show, of the 27,000 patients living in nursing homes in the state of Minnesota, 13.5 percent receive psychotropic drugs, according to our partners at Minnesota Public Radio.
That figure, though below the national average of 18.5 percent, is still cause for concern.
The awakening program is based on training nursing assistants to find alternative ways in managing behavior issues or symptoms associated with a certain disease.
As part of Ecumen Nursing homes, The Bayshore Health Center on Park Point has trained all staff on the program initiatives.
"It's an investigative process," said Maria Alseth, Awakening Project Lead. "Why are you on the medication, how long have you been on the medication and does it serve its purpose today? Perhaps ten, five years ago when the client was on it, it served a purpose, but as the body ages, it now has lost that purpose."
Restorative health care assistants focus on building rapport with patients, so when behavior occurs that is out of character, a solution can be found, without necessarily prescribing medication.
"We are providing them an opportunity to share what is really important to them, getting to know who they are, and what might be those potential triggers so that we can avoid them as caregivers," Alseth said.
Organizers of the program also stress the importance of family involvement as members can provide a host of information to staff about the patient.
"Just in regards to previous lifestyles, like I said before, likes and dislikes and that can be from anything from their environment to food to clothing to some of their personality traits," said Tessie Stratioti, Social Services Director.
State funding has granted the awakening program $3.8 million dollars.
The program will be evaluated for effectiveness at the end of its three year grant period.
Written and posted to the web:Jennifer Walch
jwalch@northlandsnewscenter.com
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