Objective: To examine the number and types of medication errors detected by a registered nurse during interdisciplinary home visits for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Medication errors including non-adherence are independently associated with increased morbidity and mortality in the elderly population. In the United States, medication errors are estimated to increase healthcare costs by over $170 billion annually. In PD specifically, medication non-adherence directly increases disability and healthcare costs. When PD progresses and patients become homebound, office-based medication reconciliation is not possible and errors may go undetected.

Methods: We defined medication discrepancy errors as errors of dose, frequency, strength, omission, and commission. We compared provider-documented prescriptions with the patient- or caregiver- administered regimen for 26 subjects completing at least one home visit (and up to 4) during a one-year period of quarterly home visits.

Results: Among 26 subjects, 11 subjects (42.3%) had completed four visits. In total, 54 errors were detected across 78 visits (0.69 detected errors per visit), with a median of 1 error per subject (range 0-9). The most common types of detected errors were errors of commission (35%) in which the subject was taking a medication not known to the provider or which they were instructed to discontinue, followed by errors of frequency (28%) and omission (24%).

Conclusions: Medication errors are frequent among advanced PD patients and are ongoing even with medication reconcillation efforts. To our knowledge, this is the first study documenting the prevalence of medication errors in homebound patients with advanced PD and supports the value of a home visit program in advanced PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/medication-errors-the-role-of-the-nurse-in-an-interdisciplinary-home-visit-program-for-advanced-parkinsons-disease-patients/