Gillespie Robyn, Mullan Judy, Harrison Lindsey
Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
J Clin Nurs. 2014 Dec;23(23-24):3296-308. doi: 10.1111/jocn.12519. Epub 2013 Dec 20.
To explore published literature that describes what is known about the role of informal caregivers as they manage medications for older adults and/or people living with dementia residing in the community.
The number of informal caregivers of older adults, including people living with dementia, is growing worldwide. Good medication management by informal caregivers contributes to improved health outcomes and reduced institutionalisations for the care recipient; however, little is known about this domain of care.
Narrative review.
A literature search was conducted to identify relevant research articles written in English between January 2000-April 2013, sourced from online database searches using multiple keywords, reviewing reference lists and citations of key articles and Internet searches. Articles were included if they described informal caregiver medication management for older adults and/or people living with dementia.
Ten articles were found that described this role from the perspective of the informal caregiver. The evidence suggests that this role is complex and is often made more difficult because of increasing medication regimen complexities, aspects of the relationship between the caregiver and the care recipient, healthcare system practices and a lack of information and/or training available to the informal caregiver, especially when caring for people living with dementia.
Responsibility for managing medications for older adults and/or people living with dementia in the community often falls to informal caregivers. More information resources are required for this role, which requires specific medication management skills and knowledge and is further complicated by the cognitive decline of the care recipient.
Informal caregivers are often expected to manage medications in a safe and effective manner for their older care recipient, who may also have cognitive impairment. Nurses, who may be in frequent contact with community-living older adults/people living with dementia, can be an important source of information, training and support for informal caregivers.
探讨已发表的文献，这些文献描述了非正式照护者在为社区中的老年人和/或痴呆症患者管理药物方面所发挥的作用。
包括痴呆症患者在内的老年人的非正式照护者数量在全球范围内不断增加。非正式照护者进行良好的药物管理有助于改善受照护者的健康状况并减少其住院率；然而，对于这一照护领域知之甚少。
叙述性综述。
进行文献检索，以识别2000年1月至2013年4月期间用英文撰写的相关研究文章，这些文章来源于使用多个关键词的在线数据库搜索、查阅关键文章的参考文献列表和引用文献以及互联网搜索。如果文章描述了非正式照护者对老年人和/或痴呆症患者的药物管理，则将其纳入。
发现有十篇文章从非正式照护者的角度描述了这一角色。证据表明，这一角色很复杂，而且由于药物治疗方案日益复杂、照护者与受照护者之间关系的某些方面、医疗系统的做法以及非正式照护者缺乏信息和/或培训，尤其是在照顾痴呆症患者时，这一角色往往变得更加困难。
在社区中为老年人和/或痴呆症患者管理药物的责任通常落在非正式照护者身上。这一角色需要更多的信息资源，因为它需要特定的药物管理技能和知识，而且受照护者的认知能力下降会使其更加复杂。
通常期望非正式照护者以安全有效的方式为其老年受照护者管理药物，而这些受照护者可能也有认知障碍。护士可能经常与居住在社区的老年人/痴呆症患者接触，他们可以成为非正式照护者重要的信息、培训和支持来源。
