THE USE OF SLEEP MEDICATIONS IN SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES: A STUDY OF BIOMEDICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS (DRUG UTILIZATION, HOMES, SEDATIVE-HYPNOTICS, LONG TERM CARE, ATTITUDES).
Contributors: University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 332
Subjects: Health Sciences, Pharmacy.
Description: The purposes of this study were to: (a) describe patterns of sleep medication ordering and use in seven skilled nursing facilities, (b) examine whether biomedical factors relate to the ordering and use of sleep medication, and (c) determine whether nurse attitudes and other psychosocial factors relate to the ordering and administration of sleep medication.

Data were collected in seven Wisconsin nursing homes. The first stage of the study was to conduct a two month audit of pharmacy records (n = 863) in order to determine the residents' diagnoses and patterns of drug use over an extended time. The second stage involved an audit of nursing records in order to assess resident symptoms and nurse administration patterns. The third stage was to survey the evening and night shift nurses' beliefs about these drugs and to determine their knowledge of sleep medications and their attitudes about the nurse's role in administering drugs. Ultimately it was possible to link the nurse's survey responses to her actual administration of sleep medication and to conduct a multivariate analysis of the factors relating to the nurse's drug-giving behavior.

In general, the biomedical approach to explaining sleep medication orders and use among long-term care facility residents was not supported, though there was some evidence that the resident's medical status related to the extent of sleep medication orders and administration by the nurse. The psychosocial approach also received some support in the case of flurazepam use. The extent to which nurses administered flurazepam to residents related to the nurses' views about their role in giving sleep medication.

The results of this study suggest that medication use is a complex process and that the biomedical and psychosocial paradigms need to be refined and further investigated. Suggestions are made for ways to better assess the sleep medication use process in long-term care facilities.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: B, page: 2638.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON, 1985.

School code: 0262.