Guidance on drug interactions for elders
Guidance on drug interactions for elders is a non-profit organization that helps elderly people to prevent drug on drug interactions with the help of nurses, workshops for the family of the elders and home-made drug interaction tables that can be easily used by elders at home. The nurses will spend enough time with the patients to create their own personal home-made drug on drug interaction.
About You
Section 1: You
Section 2: Your Organization
Organization Name
Guidance on drug interactions for elders
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
Belgium
Your idea
Name Your Project
Guidance on drug interactions for elders
Country and state your work focuses on
Belgium, VOV
Describe Your Idea
Guidance on drug interactions for elders is a non-profit organization that helps elderly people to prevent drug on drug interactions with the help of nurses, workshops for the family of the elders and home-made drug interaction tables that can be easily used by elders at home. The nurses will spend enough time with the patients to create their own personal home-made drug on drug interaction.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
Contrary to what everybody thinks most elders in Belgium don't live in a rest-home, but most of them still live at home and receive nurse care on almost a daily basis. Polypharmacy is something that almost every elder in Belgium does know. A lot of elders take 10-15 different drugs per day and when one of those elders goes into the hospital again, chahnces are that the doctor will add other drugs for a certain period of time which will only make the list longer. Polypharmacy can be dangerous because of the risks of drug on drug interactions are higher, especially because of the bad communication among the different doctors and the pharmacist. Drug o drug interactions due to polypharmacy already led to hospitalisations of many patients which is why it is very important to introduce the patient itself and his family to this very problem. By forming a team with the family and the patient, they will feel closer to us and by making a home-made drug on drug interaction table it will allow the patient to remain his autonomy and to verify himself rather a new drug added to his list of medication can influence, increase or decrease the effect of other drugs and then he can make this remark to his doctor and talk about it. This will allow the patient and the family to be vigilant about the medication he takes.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
No
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
Approximately 250 words left (2000 characters).
Problem
- Polypharmacy
- Drug on drug interactions
- patients are misinformed
Actions
We are looking for financial partners and we are trying to raise money to be able to finance healthcare and to start this non-profit organization.
Results
The goal of this organization is to prevent hospitalizations and others consequences caused by drug on drug interactions. We have to know that the metabolism of an elder is much more sensitive to this and that a drug in a young person's body won't work exactly the same way as in an elder person's body. So by educating ederly patients and their family and by giving them simple tools they can use at home to answer their questions they will be preventing drug on drug interactions.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Year 1: Find financial partners who want to finance the project.
Year 2: Find the nurses to work for the organization and spread the news of the project as much as possible through a website.
Year 3: make workshops.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Not be able to find financial partners to finance the project.
How many people will your project serve annually?
101‐1000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$100 ‐ 1000
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Idea phase
In what country?
Belgium
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
No
If yes, provide organization name.
How long has this organization been operating?
Less than a year
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
No
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
No
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
No
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
Approximately 150 words left (1200 characters).
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
- Financial investment
- spread the news about the organization by starting a website and talk abou the organization.
- Recrute nurses to work for the organization.
-
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
My thesis in college was about this subject: "polypharmacy and the risks of drug interactions, how can nurses help?" that was 5 years ago. Being a nurse makes me real close to this subject and it allows me to observe the evolution of this problem I was stunned to see that even after 5 years this problem has not been reduced by a bit so I decided that I should do something about it. Belgium is a country with a majority of elder people and most of them take more than 5 or more different drugs per day, in many cases nobody looks after the dangers that drug on drug interactions can cause and this is why I decided that there should be an organization that will manage to guide patients to prevent such problems.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
I am a nurse, I have been working for a couple of years now. I'm doing a Master in Health Management and Policy so that I can be able to manage an organization in the right way, we learn a lot about non-profit organizations which only enriches my knowledge. My dream is to someday have my own organization, an organization centered around "Health" and how to improve the health of people. Health does play a major role in my life and even if one day I will have another job, it will always have something tod o with "Health".
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Web Search (e.g., Google or Yahoo)
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
50 words or fewer
 | 93 weeks agoTed Eytan said: Hi Maria, I am looking at entries and adding comments and questions. I agree that polypharmacy is a very challenging situation and ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 93 weeks agoMaria Pedro updated this Competition Entry. |
| 93 weeks agoMaria Pedro updated this Competition Entry. |
| 93 weeks agoMaria Pedro submitted this idea. |
