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Health Professionals' Perceptions of Drug Use Problems of the Elderly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Melanie Rantucci
Melanie Rantucci
Affiliation:
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
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Abstract

Many elderly in Canada are living independently and managing their own medication use. Since the elderly are more susceptible to the ill-effects of drugs, non-prescription drug use may pose a hazard. In order to conduct a survey to determine the extent of hazardous self-medication with non-prescription analgesics and the factors that contribute to such use, a valid measurement of hazardous use was needed. To determine items for this measurement, a survey was conducted with health professionals in a position to detect problems with drug use by the elderly. Nurses and physicians were asked their perceptions of drug use problems and of their elderly clients' concerns about their health and drug use. Results indicated that eight items should be included in a measurement to reflect hazardous drug use seen in practice by more than 50% of the health professionals surveyed. Nurses and physicians differed in their perceptions of certain problems and of their elderly clients' concerns.

Résumé

Au Canada, plusieurs personnes âgées sont autonomes et de fait responsables de leurs propres médicaments. Puisque les gens âgés sont plus susceptibles aux effets néfastes des médicaments, les remèdes non-prescrits pourraient fort bien présenter certains risques. Dans le but d'évaluer l'ampleur de ce problème d'auto-consommation au niveau des analgésiques non-prescrits, et les facteurs contribuant à leur emploi, cet usage risqué se devait d'ȇtre pesé et mesuré. Afin d'identifier les composants de cette mesure, une enquête a été menée auprès des professionnels de la santé capables de détecter les problèmes reliés l'emploi de médicaments chez les gens âgés. Les chercheurs ont enregistré l'opinion des infirmières et des médecins sur les problèmes qui touchent la consommation de médicaments et les soucis qui préoccupent leurs patients âgés au niveau de la santé et de l'usage de médicaments. D'après les résultats, huit éléments devraient être incorporés dans une mesure qui refléterait l'usage risqué de médicaments selon plus de la moitié des professionnels de la santé questionnés. Certaines divergeances d'opinions ont été notées entre les infirmières et les médecins au niveau de certains problèmes ainsi qu'au niveau des inquiétudes ressenties par leurs patients.

Keywords

non-prescription drugsself-medicationdrug misuse.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , Summer/été 1989 , pp. 164 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1989

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