Elderly Patients Still Prescribed Wrong Drugs
Dangerous drugs were prescribed to elderly Americans in about one out of every 12 visits to the doctor in 2000, federal officials said. The findings show no improvement since the last study of the problem in 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Researchers do not know why the wrong drugs are being given. Among the reasons cited in past federal studies were poor medical training for treating seniors, lack of coordination between doctors and pharmacists and failure to give patients proper drug information.
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