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How much time does it take to prescribe a new medication?
Derjung M Tarn1, Debora A Paterniti, Richard L Kravitz
1Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. dtarn@mednet.ucla.edu
Patient Education and Counseling
|April 15, 2008
Summary
Physician-patient discussions about new medications are brief, averaging only 26 seconds for guideline-recommended counseling. Improving medication communication requires more time and potentially redesigned office visits.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Medical Communication
- Pharmacoeconomics
Background:
- Effective patient counseling on new medications is crucial for adherence and outcomes.
- Current office visit durations may limit comprehensive medication discussions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify time spent on new prescription discussions, including guideline-recommended counseling.
- To identify factors influencing the duration of these discussions.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 234 new medication prescriptions from 45 physicians across 181 patient visits.
- Tape recordings of patient-physician encounters in primary care and specialist settings were analyzed.
Main Results:
- A mean of 26 seconds was dedicated to guideline-recommended counseling and 23 seconds to other prescription aspects.
- Discussion time increased with medication purpose, directions, and side effects.
- Factors like patient health, third-party presence, and medication class influenced discussion duration.
Conclusions:
- Achieving high-quality information exchange about new medications necessitates longer physician-patient interactions.
- Short office visits pose a challenge to effective medication communication, suggesting a need for practice redesign.
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