Characteristics of Outpatient Medications and Implications with Hospitalizations

Abstract

A series of 839 patients who entered Bayfront Medical Center with their own medications was studied to determine the number of mislabeled, unlabeled, and unidentifiable medications. Thirty-four percent of the patients entered with improperly labeled medications. Such medications accounted for 23 percent of the total medications (2398) involved. In reviewing the disposition of patients involved in the study, it was found that the general study population exhibited a mortality rate of 3.38 percent compared to the hospital mortality of 3.7 percent during the same period. Of the 28 patients in the study who expired, 15 (53.6 percent) were from the group who entered with improperly labeled medications. The results emphasize the high incidence of improperly labeled drugs possessed by patients at the time of admission, and indicate the possibility of this being associated with increased mortality. The results also underline the responsibility of the pharmacist in informing the physician of the status and characteristics of such medications.