More nursing homes cutting back on use of anti-psychotic drugs

More New Brunswick nursing homes are going to be cutting back on the prescription of anti-psychotic drugs to their elderly residents after a successful trial that included seniors from across Canada.

The York Care Centre in Fredericton was one of 56nursing homes in Canada that participated in a year-long initiative by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement.

Stephen Samis, the foundation's vice president of programs, said the initiative focused on residents who have dementia butdo not have psychosis, and were being given anti-psychotic drugs.

In many cases, these people were being given the drugs because of behaviour problems.

He said many of those people were able to come off the drugs entirely or reduce their dosage with good results.

"The problematic behaviours that people were put on these medications to address in the first place actually declined by about a third and we also saw about a 20 per cent decrease in the number of falls," hesaid.

"The other thing that we saw, really importantly, was across the board family members who said that as their loved ones came off these medications they started to feel like they were getting their loved ones back again."

Byreducing the number of falls, Samissaid that reduces trips to the hospital, which saves money, and is better for the residents.

Samis said 15 nursing homes in New Brunswick are getting ready to join the program. And all 62 members of the New Brunswick Nursing Home Association will be part of it by the second year.

He said it will save about $200 million in health costs Canada-wide over a five-year period.

After the initial trial,Samis said 18 per cent of the residents had the drugs significantly reduced and they were eliminated completely for36 per cent of residents.

"We were surprised at how effectively and how quickly the homes were able to take residents off the medications," he said.