How much do outpatients know about drugs prescribed to them? A pilot study

In a two-week-long pilot study, 21 outpatients with acute illness prescribed and dispensed with medications were interviewed, using a standard questionnaire, to assess how informed they were of their drug regimens and the source of that information. Some trends highlighted by the study included: (i) patients had a good knowledge of how much medication to take and how often to take it; (ii) patients had less knowledge of the exact timing of the medication and the total duration of a course; (iii) patients had poor knowledge of the intended actions of the drugs and side-effects; (iv) drug dispensers, more than prescribers, provided the patients with most of the information; (v) written instruction labels on drug packages were the only aid to memory, and the information they contained was very limited; (vi) 67% of the patients were literate but ability to read was not related to knowledge of their drug regimens; (vii) patients were very poor at asking questions of their prescribers or dispensers. Further studies involving a larger and more varied population sample are warranted.