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Abstract Background Problems with medication management are consistently identified as key concerns for the quality of residential aged care (RAC). Incident reports can provide valuable information on key issues related to medication management; however, few studies have explored medication incidents in residential aged care (RAC) settings. Therefore, this study investigates the characteristics of medication incidents at different stages of medication management and identifies risk factors associated with incidents. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using medication incidence data from 25 RAC facilities in New South Wales, Australia. All medication incidents reported between 1st July 2014 and 31st August 2021 relating to 5709 aged care residents aged ≥ 65 years were included. The outcome measure was the medication incidence rate (IR), quantified as the number of medication incidents per 1000 resident days. A multilevel Poisson regression model was performed to identify risk factors associated with exposure to medication incidents. Results A total of 5708 medication incidents were reported. The overall medication IR was 1.81 per 1000 resident days (95% CI 1.76, 1.86). Of 5709 residents, 35% (n = 2,016) had at least one recorded medication incident, of which 1,095 had more than one. The majority of the incidents were associated with medication administration (3023 incidents, 53%), followed by supply (n = 1546, 27%) and monitoring the response to the medication (n = 548, 9.6%). The outcome of the incident on residents was reported in 5165 (90%) incidents, with 724 (14%) requiring the resident to be monitored by the hospital, general practitioner (GP), or staff. Respite admissions were associated with a higher risk of medication incidents compared with permanent admissions (rate ratio (RR) = 1.908, 95% CI 1.646, 2.211, p < 0.01). Residents with Parkinson’s disease had a 1.5-fold greater risk of a medication incident (RR = 1.586, 95% CI 1.318, 1.908) compared to other residents. The administration of more than five medications (polypharmacy) was associated with an increased risk of medication incidents (RR = 2.019, 95% CI 1.930, 2.111). Conclusion Medication incidents affected more than one-third of older adults in RAC facilities. Improvement strategies should focus on medication administration, supply and monitoring, with particular attention given to respite residents and those with multimorbidity and polypharmacy.
Silva et al. (Fri,) studied this question.