|
|
|
|
Medication Management After a resident is admitted to PSH&TC, a complete physical examination, including laboratory work is performed. All of the medications being taken by the resident for general medical conditions are evaluated for their proper indication and dosages are adjusted as needed. If the resident is taking behavior modifying medication, consents are obtained at the time of admission from the parent/guardian and every effort is made to obtain a detailed medication and behavioral history. The goals of this procedure are to identify the current working psychiatric diagnosis, if one is available, to specify the target behaviors and symptoms for which the medications are prescribed, and to develop a treatment plan which employs the minimum effective dosages. If a resident is receiving multiple medications that are not indicated for the working psychiatric diagnosis, every effort is made to slowly withdraw and eliminate the medications. Generally, the medication with the most side effects, the medication that is considered contraindicated for the working psychiatric diagnosis, is the medication that has been most recently prescribed is withdrawn first. Dosages are tapered slowly and the medications are discontinued one at a time until the minimum effective medications at the minimum effective dosages are identified for the resident. The identified target behaviors and symptoms are monitored by the treatment team from the time of admission and throughout this process. If there is no working psychiatric diagnosis at the time of admission, an attempt is made to slowly withdraw and eliminate all of the behavior modifying medications one at a time. After all of the medications are discontinued, baseline data are gathered by the treatment team for a designated time period, and a treatment plan is then designed based on the behavior and symptoms displayed by the resident. |
Send mail to
Bonnie.Mozingo@pshtc.ks.gov with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
