Virtually every senior citizen in a Copenhagen nursing home has been given the wrong medication at one time or the other. 

A report prepared by the municipality in cooperation with several pharmacies examined the medications given to more than 1,800 elderly nursing home residents medicines. The findings showed that irregularities occurred in 99 percent of the cases.

“It is significant that we found something to report in almost in every case,”  Bent Halling-Sørensen, a board member of the Danish Pharmaceutical Association and coordinator of the report, told Politiken. “These findings are important for the patient’s health and their quality of life.”

A high number
Mistakes included wrong or inappropriate drugs being administered, incorrect dosages, or a complete lack of medication. The findings were reported to the management of the facilities for elderly residents, and about 90 percent of the errors were corrected after three months.

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Halling-Sørensen said that the pharmaceutical association has attempted for years to have a pharmacist monitor the cases of residents receiving five or more types of medication.

A low bar
Michael Dupont, a practicing physician and president of the medical association’s pharmaceutical committee downplayed the errors reported in the study.

“If there were really that many mistakes, it’s a wonder that people are still alive,” Dupont told Politiken. “For that many mistakes and irregularities to be reported, there must have a very low bar for what is considered a mistake or worth reporting.”