Today our topic of discussion is Effects on Special Population.
Effects on Special Population
Effects on Special Populations
Children: Psychotropic medications should be administered with great caution to children. Initiating treatment with small dosages and increasing the dosages slowly diminishes the likelihood of side effects.
Although the small volume of distribution suggests the use of lower doses than in adults, a child’s higher rate of metabolism suggest that a higher ratio of mg of drug to Kg of body weight should be used.
Elderly: Elderly clients are more susceptible to side effects, especially cardiac effects and may metabolize and excrete drugs more slowly.
- Lower doses are needed for the elderly client because of decreased liver and renal function
- Elderly clients are likely to be taking other drugs: therefore, they have an increased risk for drug-drug interactions
- They may have decreased liver and renal function, therefore, their BUN (Blood, Urea, Nitrogen), creatinine and liver enzymes should be monitored regularly
- Regular use of sedating medications for sleep should be discouraged because they usually return to normal sleeping patterns after only a few nights of medication use
- Discourage sedating medications as they may cause excessive sedation, confusion or disorientation resulting in falls and other injuries.
Pregnancy: The basic rule is to avoid administering any drug to a woman who is pregnant (particularly during the first trimester) or who is breastfeeding a child. This rule however, occasionally needs to be broken when the mother’s psychiatric disorder is severe.
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