Drug-related problems in older people after hospital discharge and interventions to reduce them

Drug-related problems in older people during care transitions have become a major public health problem since they threaten patient safety. The objective of our paper is to investigate the extent and frequency of drug-related problems (discontinuity, adherence, errors, interactions and adverse event...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Age and ageing 2010-07, Vol.39 (4), p.430-438
Main Authors: Garcia-Caballos, Marta, Ramos-Diaz, Francisco, Jimenez-Moleon, José Juan, Bueno-Cavanillas, Aurora
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Admission and discharge
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Company business management
Discharge
discharge planning
Drug Interactions
Drug Overdose
Drug therapy
Drug use
drug-related problems
Efficacy
Elderly
Evidence based research
Geriatrics
Hospital admission and discharge
Hospitals
Humans
Interventions
Management
Medical errors
Medication Adherence
Medication Errors
Older people
Patient admissions
Patient Discharge
Prescription Drugs - adverse effects
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Summary:Drug-related problems in older people during care transitions have become a major public health problem since they threaten patient safety. The objective of our paper is to investigate the extent and frequency of drug-related problems (discontinuity, adherence, errors, interactions and adverse events) after hospital discharge and the efficacy of interventions intended to reduce them. We included 20 studies in the review. All of them underlined the high frequency and complexity of drug-related problems in older people after hospital discharge. Interventions proposed to improve care transitions led to diverse and sometimes contradictory results, but the findings suggested that combining hospital discharge measures with home follow-up strategies is of value. We conclude that it is not possible to estimate the frequency of drug-related problem through a review of selected articles or to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed interventions. More research is needed in this field to reduce uncertainty and generate evidence-based recommendations for physicians.
ISSN:0002-0729
1468-2834
DOI:10.1093/ageing/afq045