Managing multiple medications and their packaging for older people in home care nursing : An interview study
(2021) In Healthcare 9(10).- Abstract
Home care nurses assist older people in their daily living and well-being, including medication management. Medication management can be challenging for older people with functional constraints and several chronic conditions. This paper presents how home care nurses manage medications and their packaging for older people at their homes. This study followed an explorative qualitative research design, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with home care nurses in Sweden (n = 14). The study revealed that home care nurses need to coordinate a multitude of interrelated tasks, with documentation being paramount. Regarding medication management, automated systems were preferred, as they reduce medication errors and facilitate... (More)
Home care nurses assist older people in their daily living and well-being, including medication management. Medication management can be challenging for older people with functional constraints and several chronic conditions. This paper presents how home care nurses manage medications and their packaging for older people at their homes. This study followed an explorative qualitative research design, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with home care nurses in Sweden (n = 14). The study revealed that home care nurses need to coordinate a multitude of interrelated tasks, with documentation being paramount. Regarding medication management, automated systems were preferred, as they reduce medication errors and facilitate dispensing of medications for each patient when compared with analogue systems still in use (i.e., dosing boxes), commonly used by older people. Importantly, the lack of a common journal system for updates on prescribed medication among health care providers and analogue communication still in place creates space for outdated prescription of medications for patients. There are opportunities for further investigation on how technology can help home care nurses in coordinating medication management tasks with other health care providers, and on receiving updates about medication intake by older patients when the nurse is not at their homes.
(Less)
- author
- Lorenzini, Giana Carli LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-10-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Home care nursing, Home health care, Interview study, Medication management, Medication packaging, Older people
- in
- Healthcare
- volume
- 9
- issue
- 10
- article number
- 1265
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34682945
- scopus:85115866604
- ISSN
- 2227-9032
- DOI
- 10.3390/healthcare9101265
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
- id
- bd680a4e-9a0b-427f-b74c-65e4776ef126
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-19 14:08:41
- date last changed
- 2025-02-09 20:38:55
@article{bd680a4e-9a0b-427f-b74c-65e4776ef126,
abstract = {{<p>Home care nurses assist older people in their daily living and well-being, including medication management. Medication management can be challenging for older people with functional constraints and several chronic conditions. This paper presents how home care nurses manage medications and their packaging for older people at their homes. This study followed an explorative qualitative research design, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with home care nurses in Sweden (n = 14). The study revealed that home care nurses need to coordinate a multitude of interrelated tasks, with documentation being paramount. Regarding medication management, automated systems were preferred, as they reduce medication errors and facilitate dispensing of medications for each patient when compared with analogue systems still in use (i.e., dosing boxes), commonly used by older people. Importantly, the lack of a common journal system for updates on prescribed medication among health care providers and analogue communication still in place creates space for outdated prescription of medications for patients. There are opportunities for further investigation on how technology can help home care nurses in coordinating medication management tasks with other health care providers, and on receiving updates about medication intake by older patients when the nurse is not at their homes.</p>}},
author = {{Lorenzini, Giana Carli}},
issn = {{2227-9032}},
keywords = {{Home care nursing; Home health care; Interview study; Medication management; Medication packaging; Older people}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{10}},
number = {{10}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{Healthcare}},
title = {{Managing multiple medications and their packaging for older people in home care nursing : An interview study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9101265}},
doi = {{10.3390/healthcare9101265}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{2021}},
}