What are the costs of side effects when the medicine no longer suits the patient?
The medicine you needed at 50 may be wrong for you at 70 and lead to serious side effects. Side effects have a cost; both personally and financially.
We examined the connection between medication use in the elderly, side effects and health costs.
It will be twice as expensive with inappropriate prescriptions. If the medication causes side effects, it will be four times as expensive. In cases where an inappropriate prescription leads to a side effect, the health costs are five times as much.
Surely 8% of the patients should not spend 25% of the costs? But this is the situation when inappropriate prescriptions of medicines lead to side effects [1].
What else can health economics tell us about the quality of prescriptions and a safe environment for patients? What role can new technologies play?
Presentation by pharmacist and research fellow Eirin Guldsten Robinson at the University of Oslo.
Recording
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