Nursing Home Social Services Reference/Appendix/Beer's List

Beer's List of Medication Dose Cautions for Older Adults This list is compiled by American Geriatric Society (AGS) and published as a peer reviewed article in their Journal of the American Geriatric Society (JAGC). The most recent version or compilation and testing of this tool was 2023. The Beer's list was envisioned and originally compiled by Mark H. Beers, MD and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1991. The idea was to help physicians and nurses understand the potential impact of medications on the bodies and brains of older adults. Older adults have different liver and kidney functions, their metabolic processes can be slower or different, their sensitivity to certain psychoactive medications can therefore be different than younger adults. Just as there is a list of medication cautions for pediatric patients, Dr Beers saw a need for a guideline for older adults. This list is intended for doctors and there may be times when exceeding the Beers doses are necessary and worth the risks for the well-being and quality of life for some clients. The utility of this list for Social services workers is in being sure that these exceptions are clearly documented and regularly reviewed. This allows the facility to be sure that residents are receiving a safe and efficacious regimen of medications. A link to the full article with results and discussion of the process of validating this list is at this link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3571677/ A more readable pocket sized version is available from AGS if you are a member or this copy from University of Southern California, at this link: https://gwep.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/AGS-2023-BEERS-Pocket-PRINTABLE.pdf Use this for developing questions to be asked about particular residents at PsychPharm meetings. Be sure you are able to speak about what changes you have seen in the resident both helpful and not helpful changes in mood, behavior and/or general well-being.