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Medication management at home: medication risk factor prevalence and inter‐relationships
Author(s) -
Sorensen L.,
Stokes J. A.,
Purdie D. M.,
Woodward M.,
Roberts M. S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.622
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2710
pISSN - 0269-4727
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2710.2006.00768.x
Subject(s) - risk factor , medicine , emergency medicine , pediatrics
Summary Background and objective: Patients can have medication‐related risk factors associated with poor health outcomes that become evident through visiting them in their homes. These medication‐related risk factors may not be apparent in pharmacy and general practitioner (GP) records. The aim was to determine the prevalence and inter‐relationships of medication‐related risk factors for poor patient health outcomes identifiable through ‘in‐home’ observations. Methods: The design was a cross‐sectional study of 204 general practice patients living in their own homes and at risk of medication‐related poor health outcomes. Medication‐related risk factors were identified in the patients’ homes by community pharmacists and GPs. Results and discussion: The prevalence of risk factors varied from 8·3% (multiple medication storage locations) to 55·9% (confused by generic and trade names). There were many relationships observed between the medication‐related risk factors, with expired medication having the most relationships with other risk factors followed by therapeutic duplication and poor adherence (9, 6 and 6 relationships respectively). Conclusion: Visiting patients’ homes may identify medication‐related risk factors not otherwise apparent through patient visits to the health practitioner when medications may be brought for review (i.e. ‘brown bag’ reviews).