Does a physician's specialty influence the recording of medication history in patients' case notes?
OBJECTIVE
To determine the impact of a physician's specialty on the frequency and depth of medication history documented in patient medical records.


METHODS
A cross-sectional assessment of the frequency and depth of medication history information documented by 123 physicians for 900 randomly selected patients stratified across Cardiology, Chest, Dermatology, Endocrine, Gastroenterology, Haematology, Neurology, Psychiatry and Renal specialties was carried out at a 900-bed teaching hospital located in Ibadan, Nigeria.


RESULTS
Four hundred and forty-three (49.2%) of the cohort were males and 457 (50.8%) were females; with mean ages 43.2 +/- 18.6 and 43.1 +/- 17.9 years respectively. Physicians' specialties significantly influenced the depth of documentation of the medication history information across the nine specialties (P < 0.0001). Post hoc pair-wise comparisons with Tukey's HSD test showed that the mean scores for adverse drug reactions and adherence to medicines was highest in the Cardiology specialty; while the Chest specialty had the highest mean scores for allergy to drugs, food, chemicals and cigarette smoking. Mean scores for the use of alcohol; illicit drugs; dietary restrictions was highest for Gastroenterology, Psychiatry and Endocrine specialties respectively. Physicians' specialties also significantly influenced the frequency of documentation of the medication history across the nine specialties (P < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Physicians appear to document more frequently and in greater depth medication history information that may aid the diagnostic tasks in their specific specialty. Researchers and other users of medication history data documented in patients' medical records by physicians may want to take special cognizance of this phenomenon.
Yusuff
Kazeem B
KB
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. yusuffkby@yahoo.co.uk
Tayo
Fola
F
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002985:Clinical Protocols / Q000592:standards; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000592:standards*; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards; D008511:Medicine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D011897:Random Allocation; D013038:Specialization