How Much Information About Adverse Effects of Medication Do Patients Want From Physicians?

Abstract

Most individuals desire from physicians all information concerning possible adverse effects of prescribed medication and do not favor physician discretion in these decisions.

Patients Perceptions of Medication Counselling from Community Pharmacies

“…It is thus not surprising that patients, in our study, wanted more information regarding those two elements in addition to sources to refer to for more information. Ziegler et al [22] investigated the amount of information that patients want regarding their medication from physicians. From 2500 participants questioned, 76.2% wanted to be informed of all side effects associated with the medication despite how rare or common they may be.…”

Pharmacy customers’ knowledge of side effects of purchased medicines in Mexico

“…decisions on pharmacotherapy (Wirtz et al 2006). Studies from developed countries have shown that consumers wish to be informed about side effects (Berry et al 1997;Ziegler et al 2001). Secondly, consumers need such knowledge to assess the effects of their medicine taking, in particular being able to recognize side effects and to respond to those with appropriate action, including knowing at which point to seek professional advice.…”

“…Users of medicines want to be informed about side effects of their medications (Berry et al 1997;Ziegler et al 2001). In the USA, almost 80% of adults visiting outpatient clinics wished to be informed about all possible side effects (Ziegler et al 2001).…”

“…In the USA, almost 80% of adults visiting outpatient clinics wished to be informed about all possible side effects (Ziegler et al 2001). In contrast to this, a range of studies from other developed countries have generally found knowledge about side effects to be poor; in a small sample of the general public in the UK, Hughes et al (2002) reported that only 16% could name at least one side effect of their over-the-counter (OTC) medicines.…”

Patients’ Use of Information about Medicine Side Effects in Relation to Experiences of Suspected Adverse Drug Reactions: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Medical In-Patients

“…Previous work has shown that educational level and whether respondents had experienced frequent adverse effects in the past were the most important predictors of wanting to know about all possible adverse effects of medicines. [19] Given that 36% of our respondents cited a health professional as a method of identifying a suspected ADR, it is unsurprising that 57% of all those who had this experience claimed they had discussed their experience. Previous work has shown that in response to reporting of symptoms suspected by patients to be ADRs, the most common action of primary care physicians was to discontinue the offending medicine or to change therapy, [4] as was found here.…”