What are our patients taking? Do simple instructions help us to find out?

Area of Science:

• Clinical Pharmacy
• Patient Adherence
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Accurate medication records are crucial for effective patient care.
• Discrepancies between prescribed and actual patient medication are common.
• Improving patient recall and reporting of medication is a clinical challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of oral and written instructions in encouraging patients to bring all medications to clinic appointments.
• To compare the accuracy of patient-brought medication against hospital case notes.
• To identify methods for improving patient cooperation and medication record validity.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial was conducted with patients attending a medical clinic.
• Patients were allocated to three groups: oral instruction, written and oral instruction, and a control group.
• Medication brought by patients was compared with their hospital case notes.

Main Results:

• Both oral and written/oral instruction groups brought significantly more medication than the control group.
• There was no statistically significant difference between the oral and written/oral groups.
• Discrepancies between taken and recorded medication were found in 20% of patients.

Conclusions:

• Oral instructions, especially when reinforced in writing, enhance patient cooperation in bringing medications to appointments.
• This method aids in validating prescribed medication and improving the accuracy of patient records.
• Targeted patient communication strategies can improve medication management and clinical data integrity.