Geropharmacolgy - Drug Safety and the Elderly Project
(supported by the Retirement Research Foundation)
James Webster, MD and Anthony Perry, MD - principle investigators

This is a resource for health professionals to visit to get information and data on specific current aspects of best medication use in the elderly. You should feel free to use, with or without modification, any of the postings (e.g the powerpoint presentation) in your activities. The bibliography will be updated on a periodic basis. This is a project of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, in partnership with the Illinois Geriatrics Society and has been funded by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation.

Geropharmacology Power Point Presentation by James Webster

Unintended Medical Discrepancies Document

Medications and the Older Patient: Hints and Help

Bibliography: Medication Safety for Older Adults in the Outpatient Environment

1. Hanlon JT, Schadamaker KB, Koronowski MJ, et al. Adverse drug events in high risk older outpatients. J Am Geriatr Soc 1997; 45:945-48
2. Gandi TK, Weingart SN, Borus J, et al. Adverse drug effects in ambulatory care. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:1556-64
3. Gurwitz JH, Field TS, Harrold LR, et.al. Incidence and preventability of adverse drug events among older persons in the ambulatory setting. JAMA 2003;289:1107-16
4. Classen D. Medication safety: Moving from illusion to reality. JAMA 2003;289:2716-24
5. Johnson JA, Bootman JL. Drug-related morbidity and mortality: A cost of illness model. Arch Intern Med 1997;157:2089-96
6. Gandi TK, Burstin HR, Cook EF, et. al. Drug complications in outpatients. J Gen Intern Med. 2000;15:149-54
7. Alarasu R, Fliginger S. Innappropriate medication prescribing for the elderly by office based physicians. Ann Pharmacother 1997;31:823:29
8. Fuz AZ, Liu GG, Christensen DB. Inappropriate medication use and health outcomes in the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc 2004;52:1934-39
9. Friedman RA. Killing and curing: The perils of a growing medicine cabinet. New York Times. December 17, 2002.
10. Curtis LH, Ostbye T, Sendersky V. Inappropriate prescribing for elderly Americans in a large outpatient population. Arch Intern Med 2004; 164:1621-25
11. Fick DM, Cooper JW, Wade WF, et. al. Updating the Beers criteria for potentially inappropriate medications in older adults. Arch. Intern Med 2003;163:2716-24.
12. Field TS, Gurwitz JH, Avorn J, et. al. Risk factors for adverse drug events among nursing home residents. Arch Intern Med 2001;161:1629-34.
13. Field TS, Gurwitz JH, Harrold LR, et al. Risk factors for adverse drug events among older adults in the ambulatory setting. J Am Geriatr Soc 2004;52:1349-54.
14. Chung MK, Bartfield JM. Knowledge of prescription medications among elderly emergency department patients. Ann Emerg Med 2002;39:605-608
15. Awe C, Lin S. A patient empowerment model to prevent medication error. J Med Systems 2003;27:503-17
16. Gurwitz JH. Improving the quality of medication use in the elderly. Arch Intern Med 161;2002:1670-72
17. Knight EL, Avorn J. Quality indicators for appropriate medication use in vulnerable elders. Ann Intern Med 2001;135:703-710.
18. Weiss B. Health Literacy: A Manuel for Physicians. American Medical Association Foundation Chicago Illinois. 2003. 48 pages.
19. Rucker NL. Risk, repect, responsibility: Educational strategies to promote safe medicine use. J Med Systems 2003;27: 519-530
20. Landro L. Hospitals step up efforts to avoid medication errors. Wall Street Journal. January 12, 2005 Page D4.
21. Lau DT, Kasper JD, Potter MS, et al. Hospitalization and death associated with potentially inappropriate medication prescriptions among elderly nursing home residents. Arch Intern Med 2005:165:68-74.
22. Weinberger M, Murray MD, Marrero DG, et. al. Effectiveness of pharmacist care for patients with reactive airways disease. JAMA 2002;288:1594-1602.
23. Cohen MR Preventing errors related to prescribing. In: Cohen MR ed. Medication Errors: Causes, Prevention, and Risk Management. Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury MA, 2000.
24. Simon S, Chan KA, Soumeral S et. al. Potentially inappropriate medication use by elderly persons in U. S. health maintenance organizations,2000-2001. J Am Geritr Soc. 2005;53:227-231.
25. Sloan PD, Gruber-Baldini AL, Zimmerman S, et. al. Medication undertreatment in assisted lining settings. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:2031-2037.
26. Gurwitz  JH.Polypharmacy. Arch Intern Med. 164;2004:1957-1959.
27. 27. Weingart SN, Gandi TK, Seger AC, et.al. Patient reported medication symptoms in primary care. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:234-240
28. Cornish PL, Knowles SR, Machesano R, et. al. Unintended Medication Discrepancies at the time of hospital Admission. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:424-429.
29. Zahn C, Crrea-de-Araujo R, Bierman AS, et.al. Suboptimal prescribing in elderly outpatients: Potentially harmful drug-drug and drug-disease combinations. J Am Geriatr Soc.2005;53:262-267
30. VanHaaren CA, Cameron KA, Lapane KL. Treatment algorithms for use in the Fleetwood phase III study. Consult Pharm 2004;19:1011-1028
31. Rigler SK, Perera S, Jachna, C, et al. Comparison of the association between disease burden and inappropriate medication use across three cohorts of older adults. Am J Geriatr Pharmocother. 2004;2:239-47.
32. Osterberg L, Blaschke T. Adherence to medication. New Engl. J Med. 2005;353:487-97
33. Boyd CM, Darer J, Boult C, et al. Clinical guidelines and quality of care for older adults with multiple comorbid diseases: Implications for pay for performance. JAMA 2005;294:716-724
34. Hajjar ER, Hanlon JT, Sloane RJ, et al. Unnecessary drug use in frail older people at hospital discharge. J Amer Geriat Soc 2005;53:1518-1650
35. Coleman EA, Smith JD, Raha D, Sung-joon M. Posthospital medication discrepancies: Prevalence and contributing factors. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:1842-1848.