title: Physician and patient perceptions of the route of administration of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis: results from an international survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acceptability of a prescribed treatment regimen is crucial to its clinical success, and the route of drug administration can play an important role in determining acceptability. This international survey explored physician and patient perceptions of injectable and oral treatments, and how these perceptions affect acceptability of treatments. Findings are discussed in the context of patient acceptance of treatments for venous thromboembolism (VTE) management.
  
  
  METHODS
  Physicians who are regular prescribers of VTE prophylaxis and a randomly selected patient population were recruited to take part in a questionnaire. Patients had to answer 23 questions and physicians gave their predictions of patients' responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 568 physicians and 825 patients from 5 countries took part in the survey. More patients considered injectable treatments effective than considered oral treatments effective (87% versus 76%, respectively). This trend was well predicted by the physicians (98% and 61%, respectively). Additionally, 46% of patients would accept an injectable treatment program lasting >2months (rising to 67% for life-threatening diseases), a figure underestimated by physicians (11% and 46%, respectively). Overall, 73% of patients stated they would never miss an injection, where as 54% of physicians expected patients to miss one injection in a month of therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physicians who are regular prescribers of VTE prophylaxis underestimate patients' ability to accept injectable treatments as an alternative to oral therapy. This survey suggests that injectable treatments may be an acceptable, and often preferred, option over oral administration of therapeutic and preventive medicines.
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Medicina 2°, Ospedale Civile di Vimercate, Vimercate, Italy. Claudio.Cimminiello@aovimercate.org
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cimminiello
authors.forename: Frederick A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents