The headline of CBC’s Matthew Pierce’s recent article is “More than 1 in 5 residents in long-term care given antipsychotics without a diagnosis, data shows”. Click here to read more
Without the need to reinvent the wheel, long-term care homes that implemented an innovative model of emotion-based care (e.g., Hogewey, Green House, Butterfly and Eden) demonstrated success in reducing the use of antipsychotic drugs resulting in fewer aggressive incidents and cost savings from fewer drugs. For example, as of 2020, in their units where the Butterly model was implemented, Malton Village saw a reduction of antipsychotic drug use from 40% to 8% and Henley House from 57.9% to 8%.
If this is the kind of care you would like for yourself or a family member, please share this information with as many of your friends and contacts as possible – even your MPP, city councillor or your local newspaper.
These statistics are interesting, to say the least. I wonder how much money is being saved, or can be saved, by the reduction in the amount spent on antipsychotic pharmaceuticals.
Good inquiry. There hasn’t been much data available on these cost savings but we are hoping with more homes implementing an emotion-based model of care this type of info will become more readily available. In addition to measuring cost savings, there also may be more opportunities to measure some qualitative aspects of care and quality of life for residents, staff and family members.