Drug administration

Background.  Responsibility for medication can be an integral part of the informal caring role. Aims and objectives.  To explore partnerships between older people and their carers in the management of medication and consider the implications for health professionals. Methods.  Older people and their carers were identified through community pharmacies in four randomly selected areas of England. Data regarding their activities, responsibilities and experiences of managing medication were collected in semi-structured interviews conducted in respondents' own homes.

Objective: To explore factors that influence how informal caregivers manage medications as part of caring for hospice patients.

Methods: Semistructured, open-ended interviews were conducted with 23 informal caregivers and 22 hospice providers from 4 hospice programs in the Chicago metropolitan areas. Qualitative analysis was conducted consistent with the grounded theory approach.