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Physician communication when prescribing new medications
Derjung M Tarn1, John Heritage, Debora A Paterniti
1Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 10880 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. dtarn@mednet.ucla.edu
Archives of Internal Medicine
|September 27, 2006
Summary
Physician communication about new medications is often incomplete, impacting patient adherence. Key details like side effects and duration were frequently omitted, potentially leading to improper medication use.
Area of Science:
- Medical Communication
- Patient Adherence
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Effective communication regarding new medications is crucial for proper drug therapy and patient adherence.
- Despite evidence of non-adherence, specific elements of physician-patient communication about new medications are not well-detailed.
- This study assesses the quality of physician communication during new medication prescriptions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe and evaluate the quality of communication between physicians and patients concerning newly prescribed medications.
- To identify common omissions in physician counseling regarding new drug therapies.
Main Methods:
- Observational study combining patient/physician surveys and audiotaped office visits.
- Data collected from 185 outpatient encounters across 3 physician specialties (family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology).
- Analysis focused on 243 new prescriptions to measure 5 key communication elements.
Main Results:
- Physicians provided medication names (74%) and purpose (87%) frequently.
- Crucial information on adverse effects (35%) and duration (34%) was often missing.
- Specific dosing instructions (tablet number, frequency/timing) were provided less than 60% of the time.
- Physicians met an average of only 3.1 out of 5 critical communication elements.
Conclusions:
- Physicians frequently fail to convey essential information when initiating new medications.
- Incomplete communication may lead to patient misunderstandings and medication non-adherence.
- Targeted interventions are needed to improve physician counseling on new drug therapies.
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