The effects of drug counseling and other educational strategies on drug utilization of the elderly.

The medication behavior of 183 elderly apartment residents was assessed for problems in medication regimen compliance, regimen comprehension, drug interactions, and drug storage. Following an initial assessment, the residents were given instructions in drug utilization and access to drug counseling was provided intermittently for almost 2 years. Approximately 1 year after the educational intervention a final assessment of a sample of 39 residents, who initially were found to have the greatest numbers of problems, revealed a significant 11% decrease in the number of prescriptions taken and a significant 39% decrease in the number of medication behavior problems. The initial average was 3.7 prescriptions currently used and 2.7 problems per person that subsequently decreased to 3.3 prescriptions and 1.6 problems for the same residents at the end of the study. Results suggest that pharmacist consultation provides an effective health prevention strategy in elderly resident settings. Educational strategies used in this study appear to be well adapted for use with elderly home-based populations.