Just a few drugs responsible for majority of emergency hospitalizations
With millions of people around the world visiting emergency rooms each year for illnesses both minor and severe, doctors have seen an increase in patients that have illnesses primarily induced by using low level narcotic drugs. These low level narcotic drugs such as insulin for diabetic patients, aspirin for minor general pain, and the blood thinner Warinfin are just three of the major contributors that bring people to the emergency rooms. These drugs, although helpful in many cases to people, can also become very deadly and hazardous toxins, leading to body chemical imbalances that require immediate to moderate medical intervention. The group conducting the survey, the Center of Disease Control, found that out of over 265,802 hospital visits by people who misused these types of narcotics, one-third of them ended up being admitted to the hospital. Out of this substantial sum of people, the majority of these seen and admitted were those over the age of 80 years old. With many doctors believing that this large number of patients can be reduced by simply having the patient have more communication with their personal physician, the physician will be able to create a functional plan for each patient when taking these drugs that many physicians are unaware of their patients are taking.
When looking at this incident from a sociological perspective, there are several problems on a much wider scale that need to be addressed. While the world is getting better access to medications and healthcare, many people are left in the dark when it comes to being informed about the risks of these minor intervention drugs. With patients being unaware of the risks, many new patients will be created due to overdosing and under usage of the drugs someone can find in their over the counter drug store. The second sociological problem with this is that since primarily the patients being admitted are over 80 years old, something must be done to increase communication and medication guidelines between doctors and the elderly. With people getting older and having more problems with their bodies, medications are used more than ever as the body gets older.
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111124/Just-a-few-drugs-responsible-for-majority-of-emergency-hospitalizations.aspx?page=2
3 comments:
I wonder why it increased with those over 80. That shocked me because while I was reading I was thinking thats because many teens misuse and abuse these minor drugs but that really shocks me
These days you have to always be aware of the drugs that you are putting in your body. Most of these new drugs have severe side effects and can cause injury if not taken with care. I feel that it is very important for individuals to make sure they read what a drug can do to you before just popping the drug and going about you daily schedule.
After reading this I realized that communication with your doctor can really cut down on the amount of visits to the emergency room. I agree that the physicians will be able to create a functional plan for their patients. I think more awareness programs can prevent people from being left in the dark.
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