THE LABELLING OF DISPENSED MEDICINES FOR THE ELDERLY PATIENT: A PILOT SURVEY

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Abstract
The problems that elderly patients encounter when managing their own drugs were studied with respect to the patients understanding of the labels on dispensed medicines. On a questionnaire, 30 medically qualified volunteers evaluated the adequacy of a handwritten labeling system for elderly outpatients. In structured interviews with 30 elderly outpaients and by a discriminating test procedure, a proposed new typed labeling system was compared with 2 other labeling systems, the ability of the patients to understand the labels determined and the efficiency of the new system tested. Evidently, the present system of handwritten labels in inadequate and inefficient. Medical staff may repeatedly go over instructions and patients identify their drugs by means other than the label. Regardless of the quality of the label, the regimen for a particular patient often determines the necessity for repeat instructions. The typed labeling system was ranked last by staff and patients when compared with 2 other systems. The ability of patients to understand typed labels was very low. A new labeling system based on these trends is proposed.

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