Study Finds Elderly Patients At Risk For Recieving Wrong Medication In ER

Ann Arbor, MI, United States (AHN) – A University of Michigan study reveals it is common for patients 65 and older to receive potentially inappropriate medications when treated in an emergency room.

The study found that nearly 19.5 million older patients, or almost 17 percent of eligible emergency visits from 2000-2006, received one or more potentially inappropriate medications (PIM).

“There are certain medications that probably are not good to give to older adults because the potential benefits are outweighed by potential problems,” says lead author, William J. Meurer, M.D., M.S., assistant professor, U-M Departments of Emergency Medicine and Neurology.

Ten medications accounted for 86.5 percent of PIMs used in the emergency department (ED.) The five most common ones were promethazine, ketorolac, propoxyphene, meperidine, and diphenhydramine; and two of these medications – promethazine and ketorolac – accounted for nearly 40%.

In the study published in Academic Emergency Medicine Meurer suggests that more needs to be done to educate doctors about the suitability of certain medications for older adults.

Meurer offers the following advice to patients:

• Make sure you talk to your primary care physician, either during or after your ED visit.
• Know what medications and supplements you are taking and make sure the nurses and doctors at the ED know.
• Talk to the ED doctors and nurses about how long the medicines they have given you will affect you.
• Ask for a list of all medications that you received while at the ED before you leave the ED for home or to go to a bed in the hospital. The list should include information on the possible side effects of those medicines.
• If you leave the ED and then have an adverse event caused by medication, contact your physician immediately or go back to the emergency department.
• Be proactive with your pharmacy and make sure you understand what you are taking.

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