Medication Errors Involving Geriatric Patients

摘要

The percentage of residents of the United States 65 years of age or older has steadily increased during the past century because of improvements in health care, resulting in an average life expectancy of 77.2 years. In the year 2000, there were 35 million geriatric persons in the United States. This number is projected to grow to 53.7 million by the year 2020 and reach 70.3 million by 2030. Although this population comprises only 12% of the U.S. population, it accounts for about 30% of the prescription drugs consumed in the United States, and this is projected to increase to 40% by the year 2030. Geriatric patients are predisposed to adverse drug effects. Contributing to the risks for adverse drug effects are concomitant diseases, polypharmacy, physiological changes (for example, decreased hepatic and renal function), and multiple health care providers. Between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003 the United States Pharmacopeia's (USP's) MEDMARX~(SM), a national medication error reporting program, received 80,168 records in which an error involved a geriatric patient (that is, 65 years of age or older). Geriatric patient errors represented nearly 40% of the 202,476 error cases that reached the patient and were reported to USP during that two-year period.