Reduced Ability to Self-administer Medication is Associated with Assisted Living Placement in a Continuing Care Retirement Community

Objective: To examine whether reduced ability to self-administer medication can accurately classify living placement (independent or assisted living) in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC).

Design: Convenience sample of consecutive patients seen in a medical clinic.

Setting: An outpatient medical clinic at a CCRC.

Participants: A group of 78 consecutive patients (aged 68-98 years) scheduled for a geriatric medical evaluation between May 1, 2001, and August 31, 2001, residing in an independent (IL) or assisted living (AL) apartment.

Measurements: Ability to self-administer medication was assessed by asking residents to respond to a medication administration question based on a 5-point Likert scale. Residents were also given measures of cognitive status (MMSE), activities of daily living (ADL), and depression (GDS). Further, age of residents as well as number of falls within the previous 6 months were recorded.

Results: A discriminant function analysis accurately classified living placement (IL or AL) in 89.7% of the cases based on the ability of residents to self-administer medication. The additions of MMSE score, ADL performance, GDS score, number of falls, and age of the residents to the analyses did not improve the number of cases that were correctly classified.

Conclusion: Ability to self-administer medication emerged as the main predictor of current living environment within the CCRC in the present study. These results underscore the importance of considering a resident's ability to independently manage his or her medications when placement decisions are being made within CCRCs.