Antipsychotics Drugs

Vivant Senior Living frequently gets inquiries from families seeking to place their loved ones experiencing dementia in our memory care homes. Before a new resident moves in, we do a comprehensive assessment. We often find seniors with dementia on an extensive list of medications, which sometimes include antipsychotic drugs like Haldol, Abilify, Seroquel, and Zyprexa. 

After move-in, we work with our residents' doctors and medical professionals to bring them back to a healthy baseline. In most cases, reducing medication loads helps reduce medication conflicts, behaviors, symptoms, and signs. It helps our residents live safer and more present lives.

The Times investigates the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes:

The Times ran an investigative piece titled "Phony Diagnoses Hide High Rates of Drugging at Nursing Homes." The piece states, "at least 21 percent of nursing home residents are on antipsychotic drugs." The Times pointed to a study showing that the use of antipsychotic drugs is associated with understaffing. 

The Times links understaffing with the use of antipsychotic drugs:

"Caring for dementia patients is time- and labor-intensive. Workers need to be trained to handle challenging behaviors like wandering and aggression. But many nursing homes are chronically understaffed and do not pay enough to retain employees, especially the nursing assistants who provide the bulk of residents' daily care."

"Studies have found that the worse a home's staffing situation, the greater its use of antipsychotic drugs. That suggests that some homes are using the powerful drugs to subdue patients and avoid having to hire extra staff."

Vivant Senior Living welcomes this spotlight and feels the senior living industry needs to lead the reckoning and reduction of heavy medication use among dementia residents, including antipsychotic drugs.

The Times investigation was focused on nursing homes, but antipsychotic drugs are used in assisted living facilities as well. The data may be harder to find because assisted living facilities are typically private pay and do not receive reimbursement for care costs from states’ Medicaid programs like nursing homes.