Adults that reside in New York nursing homes rely on health care providers for all of their basic needs. Given their living situation and health status, nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to medical errors including medication mistakes. A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society analyzed the impact of medication errors on nursing home residents.
Adults that reside in New York nursing homes rely on health care providers for all of their basic needs. Given their living situation and health status, nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to medical errors including medication mistakes. A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society analyzed the impact of medication errors on nursing home residents.
A team of researchers from Monash University in Australia conducted the study by reviewing 11 different studies published between 2000 and 2015. The researchers looked at the prevalence of all medication errors as well as specific types of medication errors. According to the study, between 16 and 27 percent of the nursing home residents were affected by medication errors while 13 to 31 percent of the nursing home residents were affected by transfer-related medication errors. Seventy-five percent of the nursing home residents had been prescribed a potentially inappropriate medication at least once.
Despite the high frequency of medication errors, researchers found that they rarely resulted in serious injuries. Death from medication errors was found to be very rare, and serious impacts from medication errors were found to occur in just zero to 1 percent of the medication error incidents. The lead researcher on the study said that nursing homes should review their systems for prescribing and administering medications in order to improve safety at nursing homes.
Dosage mistakes, toxic combinations and other medication errors can have severe consequences for elderly patients. The family members of a loved one who has been harmed after being administered an incorrect drug may want to meet with a medical malpractice attorney to see what recourse they may have.
