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In a recent study, one in five older adults experienced adverse events associated with medications shortly after a hospitalization (NEJM JW Gen Med Jan 9 2014). Discordance between what patients have been prescribed and what they actually are taking might contribute to this problem. To explore this issue, researchers compared patients' presumed postdischarge medications (according to the list patients received at hospital discharge) with medications they reported actually taking (according to phone interviews conducted 2–3 days after discharge). Analysis involved 471 patients (mean age, 59) who were hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome or decompensated heart failure; they reported taking an average of 12 medications after discharge.
In 5…