Problems in Medication Use among Older Patients with Chronic Illness Received Treatment at Internal Medicine Clinic, Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital

Abstract

This descriptive research design aims to study and compare problems in medication use among older patients with chronic illnesses receiving treatment at the Internal Medicine Clinic, Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital. The samples were older patients with chronic illnesses. The 64 older patients with chronic illnesses were selected by simple random sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire related to problems in medication use for the older patients with chronic illness which comprising personal data and problems in medication use. The content validity index (CVI) was verified by three experts equal to 0.90, and reliability was examined using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient equal to 0.83. Personal data were analyzed using frequency, percentage. Comparison problems in medication use classify by marital status, the use of medication type, the number of diseases were used t-test, and classify by age was used f-test.

The results showed that 59.38% of most of the samples were 60 to 69 years old, 35.94% earned Bachelor’s degree, 48.40% were unemployed, 79.70% were married and 34.40% use at least five medication types. The most common problems in medication use were forgot to bring medications left when visiting physicians 48.40%, forgot to take medicine 25%, taking medicine suddenly when realized that they forgot 25.00%. The problems sometimes found were forgot to take medicine some meal 57.80 %, bore with taking medicine 43.80%. The problems rarely found were took medicine wrong dosage 96.90%, increased dosage for the fast result of treatment 96.90%. Comparison of problems in medication use classified by age found that samples who were more than 80 years old had more problem than age 60-69 years old and 70-79 years old  (f=3.13, p<0.05). Those who stayed alone had more problems than married (t=2.19, p<0.05), Those who had multiple diseases had more problems than those who had 1-2 diseases (t=1.56, p<0.05). Those who used medication more than 2 types had more problems than those who used less (t=1.42, p<0.05).

Suggestions: Older patients who were more than 80 years old, stayed alone, had multiple diseases, and used medication more than 2 types should have caregivers to participate in medication administration closely and provide home visits in conjunction with monitoring of medication use.