Prevention of medication error and unintentional drug poisoning in the elderly.

The elderly are particularly vulnerable to drug-induced morbidity. They may suffer from multiple medical problems leading to long-term drug use. Polypharmacy together with ageing-related changes in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and homeostatic mechanisms increases the risk of adverse drug reactions. Drug-related problems (adverse drug reactions, therapeutic failure and poisoning) are important reasons for acute hospital admissions among the elderly. The ingestion of extra doses of medications because of forgetfulness, mistaken identity of drugs, incorrect route of administration and improper storage of medications are among the primary reasons for unintentional drug poisoning.