Knowledge of prescribed drugs among primary care patients

Tools

Luz, Tatiana and Passagli, Leila and Bueno, Maria Angélica and Alves, Jessica de Castro and Carvalho, Liliany Mara Silva (2020) Knowledge of prescribed drugs among primary care patients. In: EuroDURG 2020, 2020-03-03 - 2020-03-07.

[thumbnail of Luz-etal-EuroDURG-2020-Kowledge-of-prescribed-drugs-among]
Preview
 Text. Filename: Luz_etal_EuroDURG_2020_Kowledge_of_prescribed_drugs_among.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript
Download (283kB)| Preview

Abstract

Background: Patients’ knowledge of their pharmacotherapy impacts the correct use of their drugs and, consequently, is paramount to the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment.Methods:Exit surveys administered to a representative sample of 1221 adult patients (≥18 years) from pharmaceutical services at primary care in a health pole municipality (234,937 inhab.) from the midwest macrorregion in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Data on medical prescriptions and dispensed medications were collected and one of the prescribed drugs was randomly selected for analysis. Patients’ responses to the following itens: drug name, dosage, frequency of administration, indication, directions of use, treatment duration, warnings (patient’ attitudes when doses are missed, contraindications, side effects and interactions) were compared with prescription and/or literature and scored. Subsequently an overall level of knowledge index was constructed with the following cutoff points: less than 8 points (insufficient), 8 to 10 points (regular) and 11 points or more (good). Results:The level of knowledge of pharmacotherapy was considered insufficient for 30.8% of the patients, regular for 64.0% and good for 5.2% of them. Misinformation was more concentrated on warnings (side effects (96.3%), interactions (91.0%), missed doses (71.1%)) and indication (53.5%). Conclusion:The low level of treatment knowledge indicates the need for investment on redirecting patients’ counseling and monitoring work practices among primary care professionals.

ORCID iDs

Luz, Tatiana ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1323-3105, Passagli, Leila, Bueno, Maria Angélica, Alves, Jessica de Castro and Carvalho, Liliany Mara Silva;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)