Medication cards for elderly people: a study.

This study describes the benefits of providing patients aged 60 years and over with supplementary written information about their medication regimes. The aim of the study was to measure the effect of a personal medication record card on the information patients could recall about their medication following discharge from hospital. The results demonstrated that the card was favoured by patients and proved effective in assisting them to recall correctly information relating to the name, purpose and special instructions attached to their medicines, as well as helping to reduce errors in administration. The study also found that a significant number of patients from the control group reported difficulties in opening child-resistant medicine containers and to a lesser extent foil and blister packaging.