A Cross-sectional Study of Medication Identification Patterns among Patients Attending the Medicine Outpatient...

The number of people living with multiple chronic medical conditions has risen, and with it, the number of medications taken by them. In addition to adherence to medications, it is extremely important to correctly identify the medications. Medication errors occur at all steps, with polypharmacy, low literacy, language barriers, old age, and lack of communication as contributing factors. Many of the patients may not be identifying medications themselves or may be doing so incorrectly. Hence, this study is aimed to check the methods used by patients to identify medications.

A total of 150 patients attending the outpatient department (OPD) of the medicine department were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, which had multiple-choice questions and one open-ended question. Sociodemographic data, level of education, data on type and number of clinical conditions, groups of medications taken, and methods used for identification of medications were collected. Statistical analysis was done using Stata 14.2.

Most (85.33%) of the patients had a chronic medical condition, out of which 37.33% had two or more clinical conditions. Physical attributes of the tablets (60%) and packaging (39.33%) were used most commonly to identify medications. About 10.67% did not identify the medications themselves. Again 45.33% of the patients depended on the doctor's prescription for the dosing of medications. Patients felt that identification of medications would be easier if the content on packaging included indication, was written in the local language, and was in bold font. They also felt that healthcare professionals spending more time explaining would help them.

Irrespective of the level of education, language known, and number of comorbidities, physical attributes and packaging were most commonly used to identify medications.