Medication counselling: physicians' perspective

Medication reviews have the potential to lower the incidence of prescribing errors. To benefit from a medication review, the prescriber must adhere to medication counselling. Adherence rates vary from 39 to 100%. The aim of this study was to examine counselling-naive hospital physicians' perspectives and demands to medication counselling as well as study factors that might increase adherence to the counselling. The study was conducted as a questionnaire survey among physicians at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. The questionnaire was developed based on focus group interviews and literature search, and was pilot-tested among 30 physicians before being sent to 669 physicians. The questionnaire consisted of 35 items divided into four categories: attitudes (19 items), behaviours (3 items), assessment (8 items) and demographics (5 items). The response rate was 60% (400/669). Respondents were employed at psychiatric, medical or surgical departments. Eighty-five per cent of respondents agreed that patients would benefit of an extra medication review, and 72% agreed that there was a need for external medication counselling. The most important factor that could increase adherence was the clinical relevance of the counselling as 78% rated it of major importance. The most favoured method for receiving counselling was via the electronic patient record.