Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Richard Jimenez

Abstract

Medication errors are a major public health issue and a leading cause of fatalities in the United States and globally. Older adults who rely on medications to address age-related health issues are at higher risk of medication errors. Accidental exposure to drugs is a major type of medication error that impacts older people more than other age groups. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the association between patient gender, age group, and reporter type and accidental exposure to drugs in older people. The ecological model was used to guide the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine archived data from the Food and Drug Administration’s Adverse Event Reporting System. The sample size for this study was 239,716. Pearson chi-square analysis showed a statistically significant association between age group (χ2(1) = 5.89, p < 0.05), reporter type (χ2(1) = 99.45, p < 0.001), and gender (χ2(2) = 56.40, p < 0.001) and accidental exposure to drugs. The logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ2(3) = 170.20, p < .001. Age group (p < .05; 95 CI 1.020–1.252), gender (p < .001; 95% CI 1.353–1.666), and reporter type (p < .001; 95% CI 1.537–1.885) were found to be statistically significant predictors of accidental exposure to drugs. Understanding the associations between the variables and accidental exposure to drugs may help patients, health care providers, drug manufacturers, and regulators to implement measures to minimize the occurrence of medication errors, which may reduce health care spending, boost patients’ trust in the health care system, and improve health outcomes in older people.

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