Medication management in older adults: a critique of concordance

Austyn Snowden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article shows that the terms compliance, adherence and concordance are used interchangeably in the medication management literature. As such, it is argued that nurses should focus on those interventions that are demonstrably effective in enhancing medication management for the older adult rather than attempt to make sense of a meaningless ideal. In this article the concepts of concordance, compliance and adherence are first critiqued and it is then argued that all the terms remain valid for practical purposes. That is, a literature search of all the terms is required to comprehensively discuss medication management. Focus then switches to factors that have been shown to be beneficial as well as detrimental to medication management in older adults. While many factors appear to correlate with good and bad management of medication the conclusion is that individual, tailored approaches are most effective. For the purpose of this article, the term 'older adult' refers to those over 65 years where not otherwise specified.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)114-9
Number of pages6
JournalBritish Journal of Nursing
Volume17
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Apr 2008

Keywords

  • Aged
  • Drug Interactions
  • Drug Therapy
  • Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
  • Geriatric Assessment
  • Geriatric Nursing
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Humans
  • Models, Nursing
  • Motivation
  • Nursing Assessment
  • Nursing Evaluation Research
  • Patient Compliance
  • Patient Education as Topic
  • Philosophy, Nursing
  • Polypharmacy
  • Power (Psychology)
  • Total Quality Management

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