Patient knowledge of cardio-respiratory drugs

Eighty-five patients were interviewed to determine their knowledge of their prescribed medicines, the dosing changes they made, the action taken if adverse effects occurred and their information requirements. Most (85%) knew the reason for use of their medicines and many (73%) knew the frequency of use, but few had been told the anticipated duration of use (16%) or been warned of adverse effects (8%). Patients changed the doses of 34% of medicines as they felt appropriate. Forty patients (47%) considered they had experienced side-effects, and 42% of all patients did not disclose their adverse effect. Fifty-eight patients (68%) posed questions about their treatment. These questions concerned efficacy or indication (38%), side-effects (26%), dosing instruction (20%), duration of treatment (18%) and miscellaneous topics (29%).