Approximately one third of community-dwelling older
persons use psychotropic medications. If the rate of psychiatric
disorders among a population serves as a guideline,
then obviously older persons' use of psychiatric
drugs far outpaces these drugs' standard indications and
has extended into areas where drugs have little documented
effectiveness. Viewed in this light, the ubiquitous
phenomenon of long-term psychotropic drug use should
evoke concern and caution. The discipline of nursing can
definitely contribute to the rational use of these agents
among older people. As suggested in this review, researchers
do not still fully grasp the dynamics of psychotropic
drug use among this population and creative and rigorous
research from several disciplines, and from interdisciplinary
perspectives, is needed. However, nurses concerned
by the problem of the overuse of medication and its
adverse consequences can already implement and evaluate
programs to educate older people and allied health
care and social service professionals about the risks of psychotropic
drugs and alternatives to drugs for the management
of everyday anxiety, loneliness, depression, and
especially insomnia. Nurses can also actively implement
and evaluate drug withdrawal programs aimed at longterm
users who have had difficulty in withdrawing, and
especially at short-term users who might soon be trapped
into dependency and thus long-term use. Conversely,
diverse patterns of psychotropic drug use undoubtedly
exist among older persons, and positive patterns of use,
emanating from users' own experiences and discoveries,
need to be documented and disseminated.
Competing interests
None declared.
Authors' contributions
PV and DC conducted the literature review and drafted the
manuscript. SL and JC revised the literature review and
subsequent drafts. All authors read and approved the final
manuscript.