Atkin P A, Finnegan T P, Ogle S J, Shenfield G M
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
Age Ageing. 1994 Mar;23(2):113-6. doi: 10.1093/ageing/23.2.113.
This study measured the prevalence of difficulty experienced by elderly inpatients in opening and removing tablets from a range of common commercial medication packagings and in breaking a bar-scored tablet in half. One hundred and twenty elderly patients admitted to a teaching hospital acute geriatric service were tested for their ability to open the container and remove a tablet from it. They were rated as 'able' or 'unable' to do so. In all, 94 patients (78.3%) were unable to break a tablet or open one or more of the containers. Of the 111 patients taking medication at the time of their admission, 46 (41.4%) were unable to perform one or more tasks necessary to gain access to medications in their own treatment regimen. The factors that were significantly and independently associated with inability to open containers were poor vision, impaired general cognitive function, and female sex. Many of the drug packagings in common use significantly impede access by elderly patients to their medications.
本研究测量了老年住院患者在打开和取出一系列常见商业药物包装中的药片以及将刻痕片掰成两半时所遇到困难的发生率。对一家教学医院急性老年病科收治的120名老年患者进行了打开容器并从中取出一片药的能力测试。他们被评定为“能够”或“不能够”做到这一点。总共有94名患者（78.3%）无法掰开药片或打开一个或多个容器。在入院时正在服药的111名患者中，46名（41.4%）无法完成其自身治疗方案中获取药物所需的一项或多项任务。与无法打开容器显著且独立相关的因素包括视力差、总体认知功能受损和女性性别。许多常用的药物包装严重阻碍老年患者获取其药物。
