[Patients' knowledge about their own medication--does verbal information help? A blind, randomized study].
Patient's knowledge about their own medicine is often insufficient, and this is possibly a contributory factor for noncompliance. We interviewed 65 patients (median age 61 years) from an out-patient clinic with free access and 86 patients (median age 68 years) from a hospital outpatient clinic. In both groups, knowledge about the dosage and the adverse effects of the drugs was poor. Old age and polypharmacy were associated with poor knowledge; there were no differences as regards knowledge between the two out-patient clinics. The 86 patients from the hospitals out-patient clinic were randomised to either 30 minutes of extended verbal information or to the standard information of the department. At the subsequent visit eight weeks later, a repeated interview indicated, that the informed group had generally improved knowledge about their own medication, while this was not the case in the control group. A statistically significant difference between the groups was, however, only found for medication knowledge about side effects. It is concluded that out-patients knowledge about their own medication is often poor, but can be improved by verbal information.
Clementsen
P S
PS
Medicinsk afdeling P, Bispebjerg Hospital, København.
Kristensen
K S
KS
Kamp-Jensen
M
M
Kampmann
J P
JP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003718:Denmark; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004346:Drug Information Services / Q000592:standards*; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
Patienters viden om egen medicin--hjaelper mundtlig information? En blindet, randomiseret undersøgelse.