[Written drug information: do patients benefit?].
BACKGROUND
A survey was conducted to estimate the benefits of giving supplementary written drug information to the hospitalised patient. The impact on patient knowledge, satisfaction, and attitude towards taking medicine was examined, as was the patients' evaluation of the information material.


METHODS
The study was carried out in a prospective, non-blind, controlled design. Seventy-eight patients took part in the survey: 35 in the intervention group and 43 in the control group. They were entered consecutively from four different sections of a medical ward, one of which served as the study section and the three others as the control group. The study period ran from November 1999 to July 2000. The patients in the study group were given supplementary drug information in writing.


RESULTS
Patients in the study group knew more about the side effects of their drugs than did the patients in the control group. We did not record any differences between the two groups in the number of drug names remembered or knowledge of indications for the prescribed drugs. The number of newly prescribed drugs that, even after a reminder, remained completely unknown to the patient was lower in the study group (30%) than in the control group (55%). Overall, the patients' knowledge about their drugs seems small. Less than half the patients knew the indication for treatment of most (3/4) of their drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
This survey shows that patients' knowledge about their drugs is inadequate. Simple, written information can improve this.
Rabøl
Rasmus
R
H:S Bispebjerg Hospital, klinik I, medicinsk center og klinisk farmakologisk enhed.
Andreasen
Anna-Grethe Engelbrecht
AG
Kampmann
Jens P
JP
Christensen
Hanne R
HR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark; D004346:Drug Information Services; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012646:Self Administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires