Aims To determine the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in older people aged 65 years and over who were admitted to hospital, and to examine the medications and medication classes that comprised these PIMs with use of the Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescriptions. Method Using a retrospective clinical audit design, the medical records of 100 older patients were randomly selected and examined for the prevalence and characteristics of PIMs. The audit was undertaken of patients admitted over a 12‐month period to an Australian public teaching hospital. Results In total, 92 individual occurrences of PIMs were detected, and 54 patients had at least one PIM. The most common type of PIM experienced related to prescribed medications that adversely affected individuals who were prone to falls. Conclusion Many older patients experienced a PIM during their hospital admission, where the risk of an adverse event could outweigh the clinical benefit.