Adverse Drug Events Resulting from Patient Errors in Older Adults

Content Provider	Scilit
Author	Field, Terry S. Mazor, Kathleen M. Briesacher, Becky Debellis, Kristin R. Gurwitz, Jerry H.
Copyright Year	2007
Description	Journal: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society OBJECTIVES: To characterize the types of patient-related errors that lead to adverse drug events (ADEs) and identify patients at high risk of such errors. DESIGN: A subanalysis within a cohort study of Medicare enrollees. SETTING: A large multispecialty group practice. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty thousand Medicare enrollees followed over a 12-month period. MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcomes were ADEs, defined as injuries due to a medication, and potential ADEs, defined as medication errors with the potential to cause an injury. The subset of these events that were related to patient errors was identified. RESULTS: The majority of patient errors leading to adverse events (n=129) occurred in administering the medication (31.8%), modifying the medication regimen (41.9%), or not following clinical advice about medication use (21.7%). Patient-related errors most often involved hypoglycemic medications (28.7%), cardiovascular medications (21.7%), anticoagulants (18.6%), or diuretics (10.1%). Patients with medication errors did not differ from a comparison group in age or sex but were taking more regularly scheduled medications (compared with 0-2 medications, odds ratio (OR) for 3-4 medications=2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.9-4.2; OR for 5-6 medications=3.1, 95% CI=1.5-7.0; OR for u3eor=7 medications=3.3, 95% CI=1.5-7.0). The strongest association was with the Charlson Comorbidity Index (compared with a score of 0, OR for a score of 1-2=3.8, 95% CI=2.1-7.0; OR for a score of 3-4=8.6, 95% CI=4.3-17.0; OR for a score of u3eor=5=15.0, 95% CI=6.5-34.5). CONCLUSION: The medication regimens of older adults present a range of difficulties with the potential for harm. Strategies are needed that specifically address the management of complex drug regimens
Related Links	http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01047.x/pdf
Ending Page	276
Page Count	6
Starting Page	271
e-ISSN	15325415
DOI	10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01047.x
Journal	Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
Issue Number	2
Volume Number	55
Language	English
Publisher	Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher Date	2007-02-01
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Journal: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Endocrinology and Metabolism Patient Safety Adverse Drug Events Medication Errors
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article