Below are a selection of resources to help health care professionals, caregivers, and families manage care for older adults.

Click on each heading in the red text to see the full list of brochures or websites related to each topic area.

Brochure Series:

ElderCare Patient Education Brochure Series

These brochures were designed and published by the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging. If you have questions about their content, please contact lamycenter@rx.umaryland.edu.

Falls Prevention Brochure Series

These brochures were designed and published by the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging. If you have questions about their content, please contact lamycenter@rx.umaryland.edu.

"Know Your Medicines" Patient Education Brochure Series

The following helpful guides provide quick facts about the condition indicated, as well as steps that caregivers and family members can take to ensure that the older adults in their lives are using medications related to those conditions safely and effectively.

Safe Medication Use for Older Adults

Download Safe Medicine Use: A Guide for Older Adults and Caregivers‌ for tips to help ensure that you are safely using your prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Information Sheets:

COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

COVID-19: What Older Adults and Caregivers Need to Know
Developed in collaboration with the Maryland Poison Center (MPC), this information sheet provides important facts about COVID-19 for older adults and their caregivers, including symptoms and where to seek care.

COVID-19 Vax Facts for Older Adults and Caregivers
Developed in collaboration with the Lamy Champions Coalition, this downloadable fact sheet answers frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccines, including who should get vaccinated, potential side effects associated with vaccines, and what to expect when visiting a health care facility to get vaccinated.

Websites to Explore:

Appropriate Prescribing for Older Adults

Beers Criteria: The Beers Criteria is a list of medications that has been updated through the years to assist practitioners, researchers, and policymakers with evaluating potentially inappropriate medications in older adults. It discusses high-risk medications, drug-disease interactions, as well as doses that should not be exceeded. Also available is American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Resources.

Merck Manual of Geriatrics: The Merck Manual offers an introduction to geriatric medicine. It includes information about safe drug use and prevention of diseases and disability in elderly people. It also gives a perspective on funding of health care and social issues in the elderly.

Renal function (Creatinine Clearance) Calculator: In order to ensure a safe use of medicines that are excreted through the kidney, the kidney function needs to be estimated. This is a tool to help prescribers calculate renal function.

WIHI: The How and Why of Deprescribing: Hosted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, this podcast details the experience of health care professionals who have worked with the institute to implement deprescribing initiatives at their organizations.

Cultural Awareness

EthnoMed: This resource was developed by the University of Washington and "contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues, and related topics pertinent to the health care of immigrants." The clinical topics and patient education sections are conveniently categorized by both topic and culture/language. There is also a compilation of resources on cross-cultural health.

Disposal of Drugs

FDA on Disposal of Unused Medicines: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) presents an updated overview on the proper disposal of medications, including drug take-back programs and disposing of medications at home. There is also a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section and a list of medicines recommended for disposal by flushing. They also have an internet resource on medication disposal for consumers.

Drug-Drug Interaction Identifiers

The following reference tools can be used to check drug-drug interactions. Enter the patient's medicines and the tool will notify you if any relevant drug-drug interactions are identified.

Falls Prevention

Resources for Providers:

Resources for Patients:

Health Literacy

AHRQ Health Literacy Tools: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published two tools that can be used to assess health literacy. These tools include the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine-Short Form (REALM-SF) and the Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Spanish Adults (SAHLSA-50).

CDC Health Literacy for Older Adults: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created a resource specific to older adults and health literacy issues. This section provides resources on "Guidance and Standards" for generating materials that will match the health literacy of the aging population. Examples include, but are not limited to, communication guidelines, web communication guidance, and health education tools.

Medication Safety

Reducing Adverse Drug Events in the Elderly: The Delmarva Foundation provides a wide range of resources to illustrate the ways in which pharmacists can help reduce adverse drug events among older adults, including anticoagulation management, pain management, and other resources and educational sites.

A Systems Approach to Quality Improvement in Long-Term Care: Safe Medication Practices Workbook: The Safe Medication Practices Workbook outlines a medication management system in long-term care. It contains 15 sections, each highlighting a specific process within the system. Under each section is an explanation along with tools, reminders, and resources for that section. The sections include the areas of prescribing, dispensing, monitoring, educating residents and families, and much more. This workbook was developed by the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, Masspro, the Health Care Quality Improvement Organization for Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Extended Care Federation.

Script Your Future Adherence Tools: The Script Your Future website features many resources to help patients adhere to medication regimens and treatments. Many of the tools may be disease state specific, including asthma and diabetes. The resource also includes a link to journal articles relating to medication adherence for health care professionals.

Pill Identifier

RxList Pill Identification Tool: This resource allows you to identify unknown pills; for example, when the original packing is missing. Enter the imprint, color, and/or shape of the pill and the system will present images of pills according to the description. Review the images in order to identify the unknown medication.

Reference Tools

Substance Abuse and Misuse with Older Adults

At Any Age, It Does Matter: Substance Abuse and Older Adults (for Professionals): This modular course for health professionals working with older adult addresses the issue of substance misuse and abuse. The learning modules include recognizing alcohol/substance misuse and abuse, diagnosing substance problems in older adults, prevention and early intervention, treatment, and legal and ethical issues.

Additional Tools

Other Suggested Readings:

Medication Reconciliation

Improving Medication Safety During Hospital-based Transitions of Care
Abstract: Medication errors are common during transitions of care such as hospital admission and discharge. Problems range from minor discrepancies to actual patient harm. A systematic routine for medication reconciliation can minimize errors, thereby preventing adverse drug events and improving patient safety.

Medication Safety in Transitions of Care
This technical report was published by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of its Medication Without Harm Global Patient Safety Challenge.