Medication safety of older patients in the hospital setting: a scoping review

Abstract

Objective To identify the scientific evidence available in the literature on medication safety for older adults in the hospital setting. Method A scoping review was conducted on medication safety among older patients in the hospital setting involving searches of the LILACS, SCIELO, MEDLINE, and PUBMED databases Health descriptors were used according to DECS: patient safety, elderly, medications, hospital. The study included complete articles available in full, in Portuguese, English or Spanish. Duplicate articles, theses and dissertations were excluded. Results The search retrieved 172 publications. After reading of titles and abstracts, 8 articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected. The final sample of this scoping review comprised 8 selected studies, while the rest were excluded for being off-topic. The review allowed mapping of a significant number of publications on medication safety for hospitalized older adults. Conclusion This review found proposed strategies for preventing medication errors in the hospital environment.