Fundamentals of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy

As the number of older patients surge, so too will the medication management challenges pharmacists and other healthcare providers face with this population. Providing care for these often complex cases means not only staying on top of new medications and therapies, but dealing with a wide range of other issues as well.

Now in its second edition, Fundamentals of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, by Lisa C. Hutchison and Rebecca B. Sleeper, offers the full support you need to provide the most effective medication management and therapeutic decisions. This text is unique, not only as a comprehensive overview of major issues in geriatric pharmacotherapy and a core textbook for students, but as a resource for all healthcare professionals who treat elderly patients.

Covering all major topics and issues, the second edition provides the most current information and proven strategies in one comprehensive guide, including associated issues that impact therapy, such as the coordination of care across multiple venues and caregivers.

Inside this edition, you will find: 

• Summarized treatment guidelines
• Evidence-based reviews
• Recommendations for the frail elderly
• Case studies and clinical pearls
• Key points, terms, and definitions
• Self-assessment questions
• Extensively referenced
• New chapters on Palliative and Hospice Care and Infections and Antimicrobial Stewardship

The demands of an aging population mean that a greater understanding of geriatric pharmacotherapy is now essential for all healthcare providers. Written by practicing geriatric specialists, Fundamentals of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy provides all the detailed information and practical guidance you need.

Lisa C. Hutchison, PharmD, MPH, FCCP, BCPS

Lisa C. Hutchison was the Education and Quality Management Coordinator for the Little Rock VA Medical Center. Following this, she was employed as the Assistant Director for Clinical Affairs at Florida Hospital in Orlando, FL. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Clinical Pharmacist at the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. She earned her BS Pharmacy (1982) and her PharmD (1983) at the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences in Memphis. In 1984, she completed a pharmacy residency at Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She earned her MPH (2001) from the University of South Florida College of Public Health in Tampa and is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist since 1992.

In 1993, Dr. Hutchison won the award for Achievement in the Professional Practice of Pharmacy in Organized Health Care Settings from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists for the publication Clinical Privileges for Pharmacists. In 2008, the American Pharmacists Association recognized her with the Distinguished Achievement Award in Hospital and Institutional Practice. She has served as Chair-Elect and Chair of the Geriatrics Practice and Research Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and was named a Fellow of this organization in 2008.

Rebecca B. Sleeper, PharmD, FASCP, BCPS

Rebecca B. Sleeper is the Division Head of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Pharmacy’s Geriatrics Division in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. She received her PharmD from the University of Rhode Island and specialty residency training in geriatric pharmacotherapy from TTUHSC School of Pharmacy In Amarillo. Following this, she joined the faculty at the TTUHSC School of Pharmacy’s Lubbock campus in 1999. She became a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist in 2000 and a Fellow of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists in 2002.

Dr. Sleeper has developed consulting and collaborative drug therapy management services in long-term care, assisted living, and skilled facilities and is currently a consultant pharmacist at the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Geriatric Education and Care Center, a teaching nursing facility on the TTUHSC campus.

Dr. Sleeper has been the recipient of multiple preceptor of the year and teaching team of the year awards for Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Clerkships and Neurosensory coursework. In 2002, she was awarded the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacist’s New Pharmacist Award and is a Past Chair of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s Geriatrics Practice and Research Network.

MedInfo Now Doody’s Review Services

[REVIEWER'S EXPERT OPINION]

Marissa Cavaretta, PharmD (Temple University School of Pharmacy)

Description

This book provides a general overview of the management of the common disease states that afflict the elderly population. This comprehensive review also addresses key areas such as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes in the elderly that affect drug therapy, as well as social, economic, and ethical challenges to consider before therapy is begun and tools to improve medication management across the continuum of care.

Purpose

The purpose is to focus on the evidence published about the elderly since they are often an underrepresented population in clinical trials and disease state guidelines. The book is designed as a text for pharmacy students and a helpful reference for pharmacists. It is not written to teach the basics of pharmacology or pharmacotherapy, rather it focuses on challenges and other considerations in geriatric patients. Often, practitioners treat the elderly the same as their younger patients and this book sheds lights on the fundamental differences between the old and young and details the reasons for differences.

Audience

It is intended for pharmacy students and pharmacists and it is a good reference for those who are not specialists in geriatrics. It is too general for geriatric practitioners, but they do not appear to be the intended audience.

Many of the authors are leaders or specialists in geriatrics.

Features

The book covers two major areas of geriatric care: issues in aging and pharmacological treatment. The first section is an overview of geriatric challenges and principles for prescribing, with an emphasis on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes in aging, strategies to improve medication management and reduce polypharmacy, and adverse drug events and considerations for improving hospice and palliative care. The second part of the book focuses on treatments for common disease states and reviews areas such as cardiovascular care, infectious diseases, CNS disorders, and psychiatric illnesses. Drug tables throughout the book simplify the clinical pearls of each treatment. The treatment algorithms are easy to follow and illustrated well.

Patient cases help readers apply the information and the book is well referenced. The main differentiator of this book is the information in the first section. It is difficult to teach the principles of prescribing and social, behavioral, and ethical issues in the classroom, and often these topics are overlooked altogether in the therapeutics curriculum. The authors provide an excellent review of these topics.

Assessment

This book is quite comprehensive. I would use it in the classroom and would recommend it to pharmacy residents, medical students/residents, and pharmacists to expand their knowledge in geriatrics. This edition contains updated therapeutic guidelines and references, covers more disease states, and adds topics such as hospice and palliative care. A similar book, Pharmacotherapy: A Guide for the Helping Professional, Olsen et al. (American Pharmacists Association, 2007) covers many of these same topics but is largely outdated. Another, Pharmacy Practice in an Aging Society, Wick (The Haworth Press, 2006), addresses in detail many of the topics in first section of this book, but does not review pharmacological treatment. Other references focus on solely on disease states such as Alzheimer's disease and psychiatric disorders, but few include all the information this book does.
 

Weighted Numerical Score: 95 - 4 Stars!