How to review medications in an older adult
Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.
Older adults often take many medicines, which raises the risk of falls, confusion and side effects. A careful review can stop drugs that do more harm than good.
Step by step
Get the full list
Ask the patient to bring all pills, including over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and herbs. [1]
Check how they take them
Ask how and when each medicine is taken. Look for missed or extra doses. [2]
Match each drug to a problem
Each medicine should have a clear reason. Question any without one. [1]
Find risky drugs
Look for sedatives, sleep aids, anticholinergic drugs and opioids that raise fall and confusion risk. [1]
Check doses for kidney function
Many drugs need lower doses when kidney function is reduced. [3]
Simplify the list
Reduce or stop drugs when safe, with the prescriber, and use fewer daily doses. [1]
Teach and confirm
Give an updated list and use teach-back. [4]
Common errors
- Forgetting over-the-counter and herbal products.
- Not linking dizziness or falls to medicines.
- Not updating the list after changes.
Practice it in Making Synapses
In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.
Making Synapses cases that train this skill
- Fall risk at home, older adult
- Parkinson disease, home safety
- Intimate partner violence in pregnancy
- Neonatal jaundice
- Bleeding after prostatectomy
- Tension pneumothorax
30 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library
Sources
- CDC STEADI (falls in older adults)
- NCSBN 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan
- Open RN, Nursing Pharmacology 2e (CC BY 4.0)
- AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back)
Facts and steps follow CDC STEADI (falls in older adults); NCSBN 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan. Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.