Medicine Errors Rife Among Care Homes

Researchers from universities in Leeds, London and Surrey have revealed that at least seven out of 10 residents in care homes suffer from medicine errors.

The study involved 256 residents recruited from 55 care homes across England and found that overworked staff coupled with a lack of training led to mistakes with prescribing, dispensing and giving drugs to seniors; all of whom typically took 8 medicines during the day.

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"People in care homes are a frail and vulnerable population at particular risk from medication errors, and it is a cause for concern that two-thirds of care home residents in this study were exposed to one or more errors," the authors said.

Typically 178 (69.5%) residents were a victim of medicine errors. Among them some 94 were victim of dispensing errors, while wrong labeling accounted for 7.3% of the errors.

The details of the study appear in the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care.

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