Managing Insomnia in Older Patients: Facilitating Individualized Treatment to Close Gaps in Care

Program Description
Insomnia, the inability to or persistent difficulty with falling or staying asleep, can significantly reduce a person’s quality of life. Natural changes associated with aging affecting the circadian rhythm and the sleep-wake cycle place adults 60 years and older at higher risk for developing insomnia. Current treatment guidelines recommend use of cognitive behavioral therapy as first-line treatment followed by pharmacologic agents. Pharmacists must be aware of potential adverse effects of medications for insomnia prior to initiating treatment in older adult patients. This activity will explore potential polypharmacy concerns and drug–drug interactions of therapies for insomnia to assist pharmacists in identifying appropriate therapies for older adult patients with insomnia. With no guideline-preferred agents, managed care professionals and pharmacists need to be familiar with efficacy and safety of available medications to develop appropriate utilization management strategies and individualize treatment for older adults.

Target Audience: Managed care pharmacists

Type of Activity: Application
Release date: November 09, 2021
Expiration date: November 09, 2022

Time to complete activity: 1.0 hours
Fee: Free

Educational Objectives

At the completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Examine the increased prevalence of symptoms, associated comorbidities, and treatment considerations for the management of insomnia in older adults
• Use treatment guidelines and clinical data for pharmacotherapeutic strategies to better individualize treatment regimens for older patients with insomnia
• Distinguish the role of the managed care pharmacist in assessing treatment regimens to appropriately manage healthcare utilization while facilitating access to individualized treatment for older patients with insomnia

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education^™ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This activity is approved for 1.0 contact hour (0.10 CEU) under the ACPE universal activity number 0290-0000-21-387-H05-P. The activity is available for CE credit through November 09, 2022. 

Instructions for Completing the Activity and Receiving CPE Credit

To receive CPE credit, participants must complete the pretest, read the article in its entirety, complete the posttest, and complete the online activity evaluation. After successful completion of the online activity evaluation, you can submit your credit to CPE Monitor. You may view your credit within 48 hours at www.mycpemonitor.net. All participants must request credit before the activity expiration date. CE credit will not be issued after this date.

Disclosures

The following contributors have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose:

Faculty

Patty Taddei-Allen, PharmD, MBA, BCACP, BCGP

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education^™ Planning Staff—Jim Palatine, RPh, MBA; Maryjo Dixon, RPh; Liz Rauh; Susan Pordon; Brianna Winters; and Chloe Taccetta.

An anonymous peer reviewer was used as part of content validation and conflict resolution. The peer reviewer has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose.

Educational Disclaimer
CPE activities are offered solely for educational purposes and do not constitute any form of professional advice or referral. Discussions concerning drugs, dosages, and procedures may reflect the clinical experience of the author(s) or they may be derived from the professional literature or other sources and may suggest uses that are investigational in nature and not approved labeling or indications. Participants are encouraged to refer to primary references or full prescribing information resources.

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[email protected]
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