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Are medication record cards useful?
P A Atkin1, T P Finnegan, S J Ogle
1Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW.
Insights
Patient medication record cards showed declining use and poor accuracy over 12 months. These cards, introduced by a third party, did not improve medication management for elderly patients.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Pharmacovigilance
- Health Informatics
Background:
- Patient-held medication records are intended to improve medication safety and adherence.
- Effective use relies on consistent patient engagement and accurate record-keeping.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the utilization and patient/doctor acceptance of medication record cards.
- To assess the accuracy and impact of these cards on medication management.
Main Methods:
- A 12-month prospective study involving 187 elderly patients (mean age 78.4 years) managing multiple medications.
- Data collected at baseline and at four-month intervals, assessing card availability, usage, and record accuracy through home medication checks.
Main Results:
- Card retention was high, but presentation to doctors decreased significantly from 61% to 23% over 12 months.
- Accurate medication records were maintained by only 16-20% of patients.
- General practitioner (GP) prescriptions were inconsistent with actual patient regimens in 75% of cases.
Conclusions:
- Patient-held medication record cards introduced via a third party are unlikely to enhance medication use quality.
- Interventions need to address patient engagement and the accuracy of information transfer between healthcare providers and patients.
Objective:
To assess the use of patient-held medication record cards and their acceptability to patients and doctors.
Design:
Prospective 12-month study with data collection at baseline and on three subsequent occasions at four-monthly intervals.
Patients And Setting:
187 patients with a mean age of 78.4 years (range, 60-101) were taking a mean of 5.8 medications each (range, 1-18). They lived on Sydney's lower north shore and were able to care for themselves.
Main Outcome Measures:
Availability of card on request, frequency of use, status of recorders and accuracy of records (checked by inspection of medications at home).
Results:
Most patients retained their cards, but the proportion who presented it to their doctor fell from 61% to 23% over the 12 months (P < 0.0001), and the proportion with accurately recorded drug regimens ranged from 20% down to 16%. Of the 75 regimens written exclusively by general practitioners in the 12 months, only 19 (25%) were consistent with what the patients were actually taking.
Conclusion:
Medication record cards introduced into the doctor-patient relationship by a "third-party" are unlikely to result in better quality use of medicines.
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