Abstract: Objective To investigate the knowledge of oral drugs in caretakers of elderly patients and their behaviors in order to give them health education for improving the effect of oral drugs outside hospitals.Methods General conditions,knowledge about oral drugs and behaviors of 180 caretakers of elderly patients were investigated by random sampling with questionnaires designed by ourselves.Results Of the 180 caretakers of elderly patients,81.6% only received education in junior middle school or primary school,88.3% were non-relatives,78.3% had a caretaking time of less than 1 month,54.4% could recognize that the drugs did not exceed their time limit and did not go bad,54.4% knew that the drugs should be taken with warm water,47.8% knew that how the patients should take the drugs that could dye and corrode teeth,42.2% knew that tonics should be taken when the patients were fasted or before they went to bed,only 31.7% knew that side effects of drugs were associated with the inappropriate taking of oral drugs.Conclusion The caretakers of elderly patients are mainly consisted of middle-aged and young non-relatives with a low cultural level and a poor knowledge about oral drugs,thus they should receive popular education about oral drugs.