ABSTRACT
A pilot study to test the effectiveness of medication instruction was carried out using 61 voluntary participants age 65 and older. They were interviewed regarding their medication taking, and instruction was individualized using one of four teaching modes: oral; written; oral and written; and oral and written combined with memory aids. Postinstruction interviews revealed no significant difference in compliance among all groups. The preinstruction mean compliance score of all subjects was 98.8 percent. Although compliance, judged specifically on the basis of the prescription label instructions, was extremely high both before and after instruction, drug-taking behavior and knowledge did change. The preinstruction compliance score does not necessarily reflect safe or desirable drug-taking behavior. There was no specific information given to clients with their prescriptions and prescription medications, indicating, for drug-therapy decision makers, a much broader problem than non-compliance.
Subject(s)
Drug Therapy/psychology , Patient Compliance , Patient Education as Topic , Aged , Humans , Minnesota , Pilot ProjectsABSTRACT
The results of structured interviews of fifty persons aged 65 years and older who were living independently in the community indicated that hazardous as well as wasteful practices were occurring in their medication taking behavior. Sixty-six percent of the medications used by this population were being taken without adequate instructions and twenty-five percent of the medications were not being taken as labeled. There is a need for a greatly improved coordination, improved education, and advocacy involving patients, nurses, pharmacists and physicians in medication use.