title: [Medication errors and non-compliance in polymedicated elderly patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To detect and describe medication errors and adherence to therapy in polymedicated (> 5 drugs) elderly patients (> 65 years).
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive, observational study using a phone survey to polymedicated elderly outpatients. Sociodemographic, clinical, and pharmacotherapeutic data were collected, as well as information on their functional and mental capability. The number, type and severity of medication errors were measured, as was non-adherence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Errors were detected in 42.5% of 73 responders, with a total of 55 errors, and a mean 1.77 errors per patient. Most commonly found errors included inappropriate administration frequency and therapeutic duplicity. Regarding adherence, 43.8% were non-compliants, being sporadic in 68.8% and sequential in 31.2% of the cases. A positive relationship between error number and drug number or adherence was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Actions are required from a multidisciplinary standpoint to reduce this high percentage of errors.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Farmacia Hospitalaria, Hospital Don Benio-Villanueva, Badajoz. luis.fernanezl@ses.juntaex.es
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Fernández Lisón
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Barón Franco
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vázquez Domínguez
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martínez García
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Urendes Haro
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pujol de la Llave
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D019338:Polypharmacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires