Administering medicines to patients with dementia and other organic cognitive syndromes

Abstract

At present, the elderly constitute 18% of our population but receive 45% of prescribed drugs (Royal College of Physicians, 1997). Many patients (78%) receive medication via a repeat prescription system and for approximately a quarter of prescriptions written for this age group, patients have not seen their doctor for over a year. A substantial proportion of the elderly live not in their own homes but in residential or nursing homes, and a small number live hospital. Prescribing and administering medicines poses different problems in each of these settings.