From restless to zombie

[GLORIAmunchkin72]

This has happened more than once. A resident is admitted, slightly confused, and within a few weeks after starting psy. meds, turn into a zombie. "They" (care plan people) frantically do dosage adjustment but their success rate is dismally small. I know eventually these psch diseases take their toll on the resident but I didn't expect it to happen so fast. Any help is welcome.

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

On the elderly...low dose, go slow if a psych med is needed. Also, to consider, if this is a NEW change for the resident who was previously in a home setting, depression and/or grief is MOST common. Being in a LTC is not a happy thing, regardless how happy we try to make it. The first year in a LTC is crucial for their adjustment and survival. Being snowed on meds is not adjustment...it is being overmedicated...which actually PROLONGS the whole process.