ARE MEDICATION RECORD CARDS USEFUL

Objective: patient-held cards and their acceptability to patients and doctors. Design: Prospective 12-month study with data collection at baseline and on three subsequent occasions at four-monthly intervals. Patients and setting: 187 patients with a mean age of 78.4 years (range, 60-101) were taking a mean of 5.8 medications each (range, 1-18). They lived on Sydney's lower north shore and were able to care for themselves. Main outcome measures: Availability of card on request, frequency of use, status of recorders and accuracy of records (checked by inspection of medications at home). Results: Most patients retained their cards, but the proportion who presented it to their doctor fell from 61% to 23% over the 12 months (P<0.0001), and the proportion with accurately recorded drug regimens ranged from 20% down to 16%. Of the 75 regimens written exclusively by general practitioners in the 12 months, only 19 (25%) were consistent with what the patients were actually taking. Conclusion: Medication record cards introduced into the doctor-patient relationship by a ''third-party'' are unlikely to result in better quality use of medicines.