title: Measurement of patients' knowledge of their medication in community pharmacies in Portugal.
abstract: The scope of this article is to determine patients' knowledge about the medication they take. For this purpose, a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study was conducted. Knowledge was measured by a valid and reliable questionnaire (CPM-PT-PT), given to the patients attending community pharmacies participating in the study, who had prescriptions for one or more drugs in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Knowledge was assessed in four dimensions: therapeutic objective, process of use, safety and maintenance of the medications that the patient takes. Thirty-five pharmacies participated, and 633 valid patients were obtained. Fully 82.5% (95% CI: 79.3% -85.3%) were uninformed about the nature of the drug they use. In all items, there was a high percentage of patients with incorrect knowledge, with emphasis on precautions (44.7%). The dimension that the patients were least aware of was "drug safety" (1.9%). Eight out of 10 patients in the population do not know what drug they use. The highest lack of correct information was with respect to the "safety" of the medication.
authors: Grupo de Investigación en Atención Farmacéutica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Granada, Granada, España, farjoaquin@gmail.com.
authors: Joaquín Salmerón
authors: JS
authors: Rubio
authors: Grupo de Investigación en Atención Farmacéutica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Granada, Granada, España, farjoaquin@gmail.com.
authors: Pilar
authors: P
authors: García-Delgado
authors: Grupo de Investigação em Cuidados Farmacêuticos, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias.
authors: Paula
authors: P
authors: Iglésias-Ferreira
authors: Instituto Pharmcare.
authors: Henrique
authors: H
authors: Mateus-Santos
authors: Grupo de Investigación en Atención Farmacéutica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Granada, Granada, España, farjoaquin@gmail.com.
authors: Fernando
authors: F
authors: Martínez-Martínez
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004358:Drug Therapy; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010594:Pharmacies; D011174:Portugal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires