Boston Globe Article

Is this the article you are talking about?

Massachusetts nursing homes seldom penalized for overusing antipsychotic drugs on elderly - Metro - The Boston Globe

You can view the whole article from this link:

Report: Mass. rarely nixes nursing home sedatives - News - Boston.com

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Does anyone here get the Globe? Im trying to get a copy of today's article on antipsychotic use in nursing homes.

After reading that article, and working as a staff nurse on a geri-psych/Medical-behavioral floor, it makes me question some of the report. When my patients are attacking the staff, kicking, punching, and spitting, I do not see the use of anti-psychotics to be a issue with patients with diagnosis of dementia. I have seen them weaned of many times due to their decreased WBC count... and it does not go well for anyone. Long term weaning.. my be a different issue, however, the frequent fliers we have due to nursing home physicians weaning their anti-psychotic medications does not support that statement, understandably a small portion of the population I may be dealing with.

The article has an apparent bias of course.It IS the Globe after all. The reporter didn't even correctly report the facts. She stated one facility "over use of antipsychotic is lower than the state average". The comparison on the CASPER report is the USE of antipsychotics. I'm certainly not in favor of throwing more meds at someone, but old people ARE sometimes psychotic and tortured and the medication is the only thing that helps. We should bring back Haldol....it has far fewer side effects than Seroquel.

Haldol? Neuroleptic malignant syndrome... We had a gentlemen twiching with contractions and the sweats for months because of what our pyschiatrist believed was from haldol. My psych staff stays far far away from haldol unless there is no other solution.