Skip to main content
PMC home page
Canadian Family Physician logoLink to Canadian Family Physician
. 1993 Nov;39:2337–2345.

Potentially undesirable prescribing and drug use among the elderly. Measurable and remediable.

J A Bloom 1, J W Frank 1, M S Shafir 1, P Martiquet 1
PMCID: PMC2379947  PMID: 8268741

Abstract

Forty-seven patients older than 65 years were randomly selected for structured chart review of all long-term medications documented during the prior year and the number of instances of potentially undesirable prescribing for each patient. A trained nurse subsequently made home visits to assess all long-term medications used regularly during the same period. Forty-five percent of elderly patients had one or more instances of potentially undesirable drug use, all of which appeared to be readily remediable. Commercial drug interaction software identified less than half of the potentially undesirable instances.

Full text

PDF
2343

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Gilchrist W. J., Lee Y. C., Tam H. C., Macdonald J. B., Williams B. O. Prospective study of drug reporting by general practitioners for an elderly population referred to a geriatric service. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1987 Jan 31;294(6567):289–290. doi: 10.1136/bmj.294.6567.289. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Gowdey C. W., Brennan M. Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Program of the Ontario Medical Association: the first 3 years. Can Med Assoc J. 1985 Jan 1;132(1):19–23. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ogilvie R. I., Ruedy J. Adverse drug reactions during hospitalization. Can Med Assoc J. 1967 Dec 9;97(24):1450–1457. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ogilvie R. I., Ruedy J. An educational program in digitalis therapy. JAMA. 1972 Oct 2;222(1):50–55. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Preiksaitis H. G., Gordon M. Prescribing drugs for the elderly: reaching therapeutic goals. Can Fam Physician. 1986 Dec;32:2633–2637. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Reynolds J. L. A survey of adverse drug reactions in family practice. Can Fam Physician. 1984 Jan;30:81–84. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Schiralli V., McIntosh M. Benzodiazepines: are we overprescribing? Can Fam Physician. 1987 Apr;33:927–934. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Schlegel S. I., Paulus H. E. Non-steroidal and analgesic therapy in the elderly. Clin Rheum Dis. 1986 Apr;12(1):245–273. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Skoll S. L., August R. J., Johnson G. E. Drug prescribing for the elderly in Saskatchewan during 1976. Can Med Assoc J. 1979 Oct 20;121(8):1074–1081. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Canadian Family Physician are provided here courtesy of College of Family Physicians of Canada

RESOURCES