[Patients on multiple medication: do they know the right doses? Do they take their medications correctly?].
OBJECTIVE
To find whether patients on multiple medication attending our consultations know the doses of the medication prescribed them. To verify whether these patients say they have taken the prescribed medication correctly.


METHODS
Descriptive study through questionnaire given the patient or the carer responsible for the medication.


METHODS
Health centre in the periphery of our city.


METHODS
212 patients (104 men and 108 women) under 65 years old and 228 (118 men and 110 women) over this age, under treatment with medication taken orally, rectally or transdermically.


METHODS
Questionnaire in which two questions were asked orally of the patient or carer on each of the medicines prescribed (between 1 and 9): a) how has your doctor said you should take the medicine, and b) how do you really take the medicine? The replies were noted down by the interviewer and then evaluated when the data were checked against the clinical records.


RESULTS
Only 20% of those under 65 who took 8 or 9 medicines remembered correctly the dosages of all of them. 10% of those who took 9 medicines said they took them correctly. 30% of those over 65 who took 8 medicines knew the dosages of all of them. 10% of those who took 9 medicines and 20% of those who took 8 said they took them all correctly.


CONCLUSIONS
In the case of patients on multiple medication, the doctor must try to establish simple dosage patterns (once or twice a day) of the most efficient efficacious medication.
Leal Hernández
M
M
Médico de Familia, Centro de Salud Beniaján-San Andrés, Cátedra de Riesgo Cardiovascular, Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), Leales, 29 La Arboleja, 30009 Murcia, Spain. mlealh@papps.org
Abellán Alemán
J
J
Casa Pina
M T
MT
Martínez Crespo
J
J
D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019338:Polypharmacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations