Hayes K S
School of Nursing, Wichita State University, KS 67260-0007, USA.
Nurs Res. 1998 Jul-Aug;47(4):211-8. doi: 10.1097/00006199-199807000-00006.
Medication adherence by older adults who are discharged from the emergency department (ED) is an essential attribute of effective treatment. Researchers have demonstrated that delivery of well-structured instructions increases the knowledge of discharge regimens and increases adherence among ED populations.
This study compared the level of medication knowledge of elderly ED patients receiving instruction by one of two teaching methods: the usual preprinted discharge instructions with handwritten medication information and individualized computer-generated discharge instructions designed within a geragogy framework.
The geragogy intervention included large-print, easily readable, specific information ordered within the elderly memory schema. This schema consists of purpose, administration, and emergency information in that order. The Knowledge of Medication Subtest by Horn and Swain (1977) was administered by telephone 48 to 72 hours after discharge. Sixty patients (38 women, 22 men) with a mean age of 76 years were randomly assigned to groups and completed the study at three rural ED sites.
Subjects in the geragogy-based intervention group demonstrated significantly more knowledge of medications than did subjects experiencing the usual discharge teaching method (t = 2.19, p = .016).
These findings suggest that a medication teaching intervention geared to the special needs of the elderly can be effective in increasing medication knowledge.
急诊科出院的老年人的用药依从性是有效治疗的一个重要属性。研究人员已证明，提供结构完善的用药指导可增加出院方案的知晓度，并提高急诊科患者群体的依从性。
本研究比较了采用两种教学方法之一接受指导的老年急诊科患者的用药知识水平：一种是带有手写用药信息的常规预印出院指导，另一种是在老年教学法框架内设计的个性化计算机生成出院指导。
老年教学法干预包括以大号字体呈现、易于阅读且按老年人记忆模式排序的具体信息。该模式依次包括用药目的、用药方法和应急信息。出院后48至72小时通过电话进行霍恩和斯温（1977年）的用药知识子测试。60名患者（38名女性，22名男性），平均年龄76岁，被随机分组，并在三个农村急诊科完成研究。
基于老年教学法的干预组患者比采用常规出院教学方法的患者表现出明显更多的用药知识（t = 2.19，p = .016）。
这些发现表明，针对老年人特殊需求的用药教学干预可有效增加用药知识。
