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Biomedical subjects

A J Kethley

Publications and source records attributed to A J Kethley.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1985

Medication usage in an elderly population.

One hundred eighty-three independently living elderly residents of two federally subsidized, urban high-rise apartment buildings were interviewed in their homes to determine the numbers and types of medications they used and stored and their utilization of pharmacy services. From these interviews and observations, the frequencies of use of medications and pharmacy services and the prevalence of potential problems were determined. Results showed that 75% of interviewees used a prescription drug regularly, and 82% used a nonprescription drug regularly. Fifty-one percent had stored noncurrent prescription drugs, while 67% had noncurrent nonprescription drugs in their homes. The most common problems encountered were discrepancies between labeled dosage and dosage actually used, potential drug interactions, and underuse of medication. Findings that may contribute to the risk of future medication problems were the prevalence of noncurrent medications stored in homes, the respondents' lack of knowledge about recognition and management of adverse drug reactions, and the underutilization of pharmacists as drug therapy consultants.

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PubMed1985

The effects of drug counseling and other educational strategies on drug utilization of the elderly.

The medication behavior of 183 elderly apartment residents was assessed for problems in medication regimen compliance, regimen comprehension, drug interactions, and drug storage. Following an initial assessment, the residents were given instructions in drug utilization and access to drug counseling was provided intermittently for almost 2 years. Approximately 1 year after the educational intervention a final assessment of a sample of 39 residents, who initially were found to have the greatest numbers of problems, revealed a significant 11% decrease in the number of prescriptions taken and a significant 39% decrease in the number of medication behavior problems. The initial average was 3.7 prescriptions currently used and 2.7 problems per person that subsequently decreased to 3.3 prescriptions and 1.6 problems for the same residents at the end of the study. Results suggest that pharmacist consultation provides an effective health prevention strategy in elderly resident settings. Educational strategies used in this study appear to be well adapted for use with elderly home-based populations.

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PubMed1980

Anticipated and actual barriers to developing community mental health programs for the elderly.

Teams of state and local agency professionals responsible for mental health and aging services participated in a model project utilizing education and consultation to facilitate community mental health programming for the elderly. Participants identified both anticipated and actual barriers to programming. Competing program priorities and lack of staff knowledge about mental health and aging were anticipated and confirmed as major barriers. Agency-organizational barriers were unanticipated, yet there were severe problems in cooperative interagency programming.

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