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Elderly patients vulnerable to outpatient medication errors

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, March 12, 2003

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A Massachusetts-based study estimated that nearly 2 million elderly outpatients experience medication errors annually, according to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette on March 5. The article covered a study that appeared in the March 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study looked at medical records from 30,000 elderly patients who received outpatient care in New England from 1999 to 2000. It found 1,523 adverse drug events, including four deaths and 12 cases of permanent disability. The study also indicated that 27.6% of the errors were preventable.

In addition to prescribing errors, adverse reactions, monitoring problems, and dispensation issues, the study was among the first to look at medication errors due to the patient's own actions. In 21.1% of the errors, the patients themselves were responsible. In those cases, patients took incorrect doses, took medications for longer than they should have, refused to take medication, or took another person's medication.

The study looked at care related to ambulatory situations only, even if patients had been hospitalized during the year.

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