Medication safety in older adults: home-based practice patterns.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Pharmacology
• Public Health

Background:

• Community-dwelling older adults are often prescribed high-risk medications.
• Medication-taking practices and adherence are critical for this population.
• Understanding current practices is essential for improving patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess medication-taking practices among older adults on high-risk drugs.
• To identify gaps in patient education and medication organization strategies.

Main Methods:

• A telephone survey was conducted with 4,955 members of the Pennsylvania Pharmacy Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) Program.
• Participants had filled prescriptions for warfarin, digoxin, or phenytoin between May 2002 and June 2003.
• Data collected included self-reported sources of medication information and home-based medication organization practices.

Main Results:

• 32% of older adults reported not receiving specific medication instructions.
• 54% of participants used pillboxes for medication organization.
• Warfarin users were more likely to report receiving instructions compared to digoxin or phenytoin users.

Conclusions:

• A significant number of older adults on high-risk medications lack recall of instructions and do not utilize medication organization systems.
• There are immediate opportunities to improve patient education and medication organization systems.
• These improvements have the potential to reduce medication errors in older populations.