Sweet Dream or Nightmare: Managing Sleep Complaints in Older Adults

The purpose of this session will be to review management strategies for common sleep complaints, examine newer literature in the arena and apply the guidance to clinical pharmacy practice. Insomnia continues to be a common health issue for older adults with the patient population being extremely prone to medication-related problems. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and restless leg syndrome (RLS) can both be complicating factors for a patient's insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness. New guidelines published on RLS management now recommend alpha2-delta calcium channel ligands over dopamine agonists for first-line treatment of chronic RLS. OSA continues to be a contributor to underlying chronic disease states such as hypertension and is frequently underdocumented on a patient's problem list. Attendees will leave empowered to tackle this potential nightmare in practice through evidence-based approaches.

This activity is approved for Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist (BCGP) and Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP) recertification credit.