Antidepressant and Antipsychotic Medication Dosages Reduced Across Texas Under Advice of Bryan White, Dallas Geriatric Specialist
DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / October 18, 2019 / Bryan White, Dallas medical doctor, instituted a new dosage reduction protocol for patients in the nursing home. His primary focus is geriatrics and hospice, and this new protocol was important to him. It reduces antidepressant administration for patients who many not need as high a dose or who are not benefitting from that particular medication.
"Unfortunately nursing homes see a great deal of unneeded antidepressant medications, which is not helping those patients in the long run," said Bryan White, Dallas physician.
Bryan White, Dallas doctor, graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine in 1992. He has been practicing medicine for 27 years and received a subspeciality board certification by the ABIM in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
The protocol Bryan White, Dallas practitioner, instituted in nursing homes has been successful in multiple facilities already. These facilities provide skilled and long-term nursing care. His protocol is continuing to spread across nursing facilities who see the benefit and positive results of the practice.
A 2010 New York Times article by Paula Span explored the fact that 71 percent of patients in a nursing facility are being treated for mental health issues, receiving a psychoactive medication. However, most of those patients were not taking the medication before they moved into the facility. Overmedication is a problem in nursing home facilities, not just with antidepressants. Bryan White, Dallas MD, presented a dosage reduction protocol for antipsychotic medications in dementia patients to a Texas Medical Foundation open forum.
At this forum, nursing home administrators and directors of nursing participated in from all across Texas. According to Bryan White, Dallas doctor, antipsychotic medications have been found to increase mortality in patients with dementia, many of whom live in nursing homes in Texas. The protocol has been successful in multiple facilities that provide care in locked units for people afflicted with dementia.
The New York Times piece by Span stated: "Only half of nursing homes provide weekly patient consultations with psychiatrists, psychologists or other mental health experts; even fewer provide consultations with those who specialize in working with seniors. In addition, staffs are stretched thin and inadequately trained in mental health care. With a pill a quicker and simpler intervention than the alternatives, probable overuse is the result."
Dr. Bryan White, MD was appointed as medical director of Ennis Care Center in October 2019. He has attended at more than a dozen senior living facilities during his tenure in skilled nursing and long-term care.
Caroline Hunter
Web Presence, LLC
+1 7862338220
SOURCE: Web Presence, LLC