Caring for an aging loved one often means managing prescriptions, watching for side effects, and trying to make sense of complicated medical information. But how do you know whether a new symptom is caused by a health condition, or by one of their medications?

In this episode of The Care Collective, Mikayla speaks with Bri, a geriatric pharmacist known as the Caregiver Pharmacist, about medication safety for older adults and the essential role caregivers play in the healthcare process.

Bri explains how older adults can end up taking dozens of medications, how one prescription can sometimes lead to a “prescribing cascade,” and why dizziness, falls, confusion, fatigue, appetite changes, and changes in mobility should never be dismissed.

They also discuss polypharmacy, deprescribing, medication side effects, pharmacogenomic testing ...