What do general practice patients know about their prescription medications?

To explore the knowledge that general practice patients have about their prescription medications and identify demographic predictors of poor medication knowledge.

This is a questionnaire survey of a large New Zealand urban general practice serving a range of socioeconomic groups. Patients attending this practice completed a questionnaire about their prescription medications. Their responses were validated using practice records and pharmaceutical reference manuals.

Seven hundred and forty five medication questionnaires were submitted by 344 patients. The medication name was correct in 85% of these questionnaires; therapeutic action was correct in 79% of responses; indication for medication was correct in 87% of responses; while dosage was correctly recalled in 83% of responses. Age and household income were associated with accurate recall of medication names (p = 0.006 and p = 0.002 respectively), and income was associated with accurate knowledge of the therapeutic action of medication (p = 0.04). General practitioners and specialists were patients primary source of information about medications.

Patient knowledge about their medications was much higher than in previous studies conducted in hospital settings. Our findings reinforce the educational role of the general practitioner and specialist when prescribing. This is particularly important when prescribing for patients who are elderly, retired and have a low income.