Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy program, Leveraging the Power of the Medication List to Improve Care is approved for 1.0 CE in Ethics by the Patient Advocate Certification Board to satisfy the requirements for Board Certified Patient Advocates (BCPA) through May 21, 2025.
About The Speaker
Dr. Andrea Leschak is a Board-Certified Geriatric Pharmacist, an independent Patient Advocate, and Travel Health coach. Her extensive background includes working as a community pharmacist, a long term care consultant and university faculty. Dr. Andrea has been working on the front lines advocating for her patients to be treated with dignity and helping them find peace of mind.
After witnessing the tragedies of a system that seemed designed for failure, she launched Wayfinder Advantage. Dr. Andrea offers 1:1 coaching and consulting focused on empowering her clients with the skills and tools needed to safely navigate the medical system confidently. Her mission is to ensure that her clients are seen, heard and valued as the ultimate decision-maker on their healthcare team.
Dr. Andrea has also served as a keynote speaker, workshop coordinator and guest lecturer. When not working, you can find her sailing, looking for the best dive spots and spending time with family.
About the Presentation
Leveraging the Power of the Medication List to Improve Care
As people in the US live longer and Baby Boomers retire, the number of adults over 60 has doubled since 1980 and will more than double again by 2050. This poses a significant increase in the demand for reliable medical care for older adults as they age. And not surprisingly, medications are central to their care and well-being.
But prescribing medications for older adults has become more complex due to:
- Multimorbidity - the presence of 2 or more chronic conditions;
- Polypharmacy - the concurrent use of multiple medications;
- PIMS (potentially inappropriate medications) - when medication orders do not follow recommended dosages of medications are not taken as ordered.
This presentation seeks to provide education and reliable information related to the safe use of medications. Dr. Andrea will describe the factors that can result in medication errors which can contribute to increased risk of poor health outcomes.
Helping patients understand and maintain an accurate medical history can prevent medication problems and help patients communicate their concerns with their medical team.
Using the medication reconciliation process, Dr. Andrea will educate participants on basic medication safety topics, including medication interactions and side effects. The presentation will review several case studies to engage participants in an active discussion of the medication issues discussed and appropriate actions to help patients and advocates identify and address medication issues in a timely manner. Finally, the program will conclude with a review of credible, evidence-based drug information sites recommended for public use.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe conditions, scenarios or circumstances that commonly contribute to medication errors and problems;
- Demonstrate how having an accurate medical history can help identify medication problems;
- Explain the key components of the medication reconciliation process and how it improves medication safety;
- List evidence-based drug information sites available to the public.