Many elderly ICU patients may be receiving unnecessary prescriptions.

Medscape reported, "More than half of elderly people admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) receive prescriptions for drugs they do not need when it's time to go home, according to a study presented at the Society of Critical Care Medicine 40th Critical Care Congress." One "example is the use of an antipsychotic...to combat the delirium that is common in the ICU. Such a" medication "should be stopped at discharge, because there is no longer a need for it."