Compliance Problems and the Older Patient: Assessing Functional Limitations

Abstract

A procedure to assess functional abilities that can make compliance difficult for the older individual is described. The test can be constructed from items commonly found in the pharmacy. It has been designed to assist the pharmacist in identifying problems older individuals will have in taking their medications. The problems include label-reading, color vision, child-resistant containers, short-term memory, and label interpretation. The procedure identified more functional limitations in a sample of 14 older individuals than in a sample of younger individuals.