Medication Safety Issues
Older Adult: High-Risk Medication:
Beers Criteria: Scopolamine is identified in the Beers Criteria as a potentially inappropriate medication to be avoided in patients 65 years and older (independent of diagnosis or condition) due to its highly anticholinergic properties and uncertain effectiveness as an antispasmodic (Beers Criteria [AGS 2019]).
Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA): Scopolamine is identified as a high-risk medication in patients 65 years and older on the PQA’s Use of High-Risk Medications in the Elderly (HRM) performance measure, a safety measure used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Medicare plans (PQA 2017).
Other safety concerns:
Transdermal patch may contain conducting metal (eg, aluminum); remove patch prior to MRI.
