I have found a concise and easily understandable way to break it all down and help nursing staff make sense of the confusion. Here is the condensed version of what I teach during in-service programs. Each has its own set of criteria for monitoring and must be treated differently. I provide a list of common medications in each category during the in-service as a handout. The following information is conveyed orally.
Antidepressant medications require the least amount of monitoring.
The patient must have a diagnosis of depression. The staff must monitor for side effects as with any medication, and the findings should be in the nursing notes or another appropriate area of the resident's chart. If the resident does not have a diagnosis of depression, contact the consultant pharmacist or prescriber. Sedative-hypnotic agents require monitoring only if used as a routine medication. If a sedative-hypnotic is prescribed as a scheduled medication and the prescriber will not allow a change to p.r.n.