Enhancing safe medication use in home care: insights from informal caregivers. December 11, 2024

https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/enhancing-safe-medication-use-home-care-insights-informal-caregivers Enhancing safe medication use in home care: insights from informal caregivers. Gil-Hernández E, Ballester P, Guilabert M, et al. Front Med (Lausanne). 2024;11:1494771. Informal or family caregivers are tasked with increasingly complex care regimens as many care recipients prefer to stay in their homes rather than move to a residential facility. This study aimed to estimate the frequency of medication administration errors made by informal caregivers in the home and contributing factors. On average, 13.5 medication errors per caregiver per year were self-reported, with more than half of caregivers reporting making at least one error in the past year. Caregivers who received at least 20 hours of training made fewer errors. Caregivers who cared for multiple recipients reported more errors than caregivers who reported sharing caregiving responsibilities (e.g., two children caring for one parent).