Treating the complex issues of people living with dementia is difficult because behavioral symptoms often occur in combination with pain symptoms. In addition,  increasing cognitive impairment and communication challenges exist as dementia severity progresses. Little is known about either the contributions of different clinical specialties in prescribing medications for this population or prescribing patterns by clinical specialty and provider type.

This report examines prescribing patterns for common psychiatric medications and for opioid and non-opioid analgesics in long-term nursing home residents with dementia by clinician specialty and provider type.