[Medication errors and non-compliance in polymedicated elderly patients].
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.
Fernández Lisón
L C
LC
Servicio de Farmacia Hospitalaria, Hospital Don Benio-Villanueva, Badajoz. luis.fernanezl@ses.juntaex.es
Barón Franco
B
B
Vázquez Domínguez
B
B
Martínez García
T
T
Urendes Haro
J J
JJ
Pujol de la Llave
E
E
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