ARE THE AGED BEING INSTRUCTED IN THE PROPER USE OF MEDICATIONS? AN EXPLORATORY STUDY.
Contributors: University of Pennsylvania.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 101
Subjects: Social Work.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Pharmacy.; Education, Health.; Gerontology.
Description: The use of chemical agents in the practice of medicine is an everyday occurrence. This study hypothesized that health care professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, dieticians) provide adults (62 and older) with instructions about the proper use and potential side effects they may experience from using prescribed and/or over-the-counter medications. Points of reference for providing these instructions were at the time of discharge from a hospital or while under treatment in an outpatient clinic or a physician's office.

Using a newly designed instrument to gather data, a nonprobability judgmental sampling of 102 subjects were questioned about the provision of medication instructions. The study was conducted over a six-month time frame in four heterogeneous locations.

Findings revealed that health care professionals spent less than 10 minutes in providing drug instruction to their patients. The survey also showed that social workers, while identified as ancillary health care providers, did not participate in this instructional process. Results further indicated that the respondents for the most part, viewed themselves as informed and knowledgeable about both the use and the side effects of their medications, yet only three of the 102 participants were in full compliance with either verbal and/or written drug instructions. Data gathered indicated that a combination of both inadequate instruction (by health care providers) and a failure to assimilate and follow these instructions (by the respondents) resulted in overall poor medication compliance.

Extensive use of drugs by older adults and the potential for misuse within the context of this population suggested that social workers (in addition to doctor, nurse, etc.) need a base of knowledge and skills to effectively deal with this problem. This knowledge base should begin in academia, be perpetuated by social work professional organizations, and ultimately be recognized for its magnitude, seriousness, and universality by the individual social worker.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-05, Section: A, page: 1987.

Thesis (D.S.W.)--UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1995.

School code: 0175.