1. Evaluation of a Medication Education Program for Elderly Hospital In-Patients
- Author
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Qing Shen, Rosaline Khan, Margaret A Karr, Dale Duvall, Anita Ko, and Daniel Kam Yin Chan
- Subjects
Program evaluation ,Educational measurement ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Mental Status Schedule ,MEDLINE ,Self Administration ,Nursing Staff, Hospital ,Nurse's Role ,Drug Therapy ,Geriatric Nursing ,Patient Education as Topic ,Humans ,Medicine ,In patient ,Patient Medication Knowledge ,Hospitals, Teaching ,Cognitive impairment ,Aged ,Inpatients ,Brand names ,business.industry ,Communication ,Nursing Evaluation Research ,Acute Disease ,Linear Models ,Physical therapy ,Feasibility Studies ,Patient Compliance ,Educational Measurement ,New South Wales ,Nurse-Patient Relations ,business ,Gerontology ,Follow-Up Studies ,Program Evaluation - Abstract
To improve elderly patients' understanding and safe usage of their medications. English-speaking hospital inpatients aged > or =65 years were recruited. They were self-medicating at home with at least 1 regular medication and had a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of at least 20 out of 30. The patients were taught medication details on 3 consecutive days. The patients' medication knowledge was recorded before education and again at a home visit after discharge from hospital. Patient medication knowledge before education showed that participants knew 50% of brand names, dosage and times, 55% of medication purpose, and 15% of major side effects. At follow-up home visits, the relevant figures improved significantly to 90%, 85%, and 25%, respectively (P < or = .05). Similar improvement occurred in the 2 patient groups with an MMSE score of 20 to 24 and 25 to 30 (P = .03). This simple, practical, nursing-staff-conducted program worked well in a hospital setting and resulted in improved medication knowledge, even in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
- Published
- 2006