Abstract
Older adults are at high risk of significant harm associated with over-the-counter (OTC) medication use. Of the estimated 2.2 million older adults who are at risk of a major adverse drug event, more than 50% of these interactions involve an OTC medication. Given the complexity and limited understanding of how older adults select and use OTC medications, different approaches are necessary to support safe OTC medication selection and use. This symposium will provide an overview of research conducted to improve OTC medication use for older adults from the perspective of three disciplines: Packaging, human factors engineering, and pharmacy. The first presentation will share results of projects that focus on the impact of OTC product labeling and packaging on older adult information processing in order to help them make safe OTC medication choices. Results of this work can inform the development of OTC medication labeling that draws attention to critical safety information. The second presentation builds on the first presentation by discussing how all older adults do not make OTC medication decisions the same way. A mobile application tool that accommodates for different decision making processes will be introduced. The third presentation will introduce an intervention that targets systems barriers in retail community pharmacies, where older adults often purchase OTC medications. Finally, the findings will be summarized by the discussant, who will discuss the presented findings in terms of patient safety implications and impact.