Instrument to evaluate the level of knowledge about prescription in primary care.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and test an instrument to evaluate patients' level of knowledge about drug prescription.


METHODS
This study was conducted with users registered with the Family Health Strategy clinics of the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, Southern Brazil, selected by consecutive sampling. Name of the medication, therapeutic indication, drug dosage, times of administration, forms of use, duration of treatment, attitude when doses are missed, possible adverse effects and interactions were included in this study. Each item of the scale was weighted, according to the importance for safe prescribed drug use. The questionnaire was tested by applying an interview to users in 2006 and by analyzing 320 prescriptions. Descriptive statistics, prevalence ratios and chi-square test were calculated for categorical variables and the Tukey test was calculated to compare means.


RESULTS
The level of knowledge about drug therapy was considered good in 11.3% of participants, fair in 42.5%, and insufficient in 46.3%. The highest levels of knowledge were observed in times of administration, therapeutic indication and duration of treatment. The lowest levels occurred in drug dosage, adverse effects and attitude when one or more drug doses are missed.


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed instrument enabled the analysis of the magnitude of the gap existing between what the patients must know and what they actually know about their medications. Thus, key aspects of prevention, education and follow-up can be detected to avoid problems associated with unsafe drug use.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. sasafras@terra.com.br
Samanta Etges
SE
Fröhlich
Tatiane da Silva
Tda S
Dal Pizzol
Sotero Serrate
SS
Mengue
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult