When you get a prescription from your doctor, he may be leaving out important information about the medication.
A new report from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles reveals physicians often do not talk about important details like potential side effects, the exact name of the drug, and how long or how often you need to take it.
Researchers looked at how 44 physicians communicated during 185 appointments where they prescribed patients a new medication in 1999. The study focused on these key elements -- the name of the medication, the reason for taking it, adverse effects, how much medication to take, how often to take it, and for how long. The drugs prescribed included cardiovascular medications, pain relievers, antibiotics and psychiatric drugs.
Study Results -- How often doctors told patients:
- Reasons to take new meds: 87 percent
- Name of the drug: 74 percent
- How often to take it: 58 percent
- How much to take: 55 percent
- About adverse side effects: 35 percent
- How long to take the drug: 34 percent
"This study demonstrates spotty physician counseling about new medication prescriptions," the authors write. "Although physicians educated patients more about psychiatric and analgesic medications, the overall quality of communication was poor even for these medication types and could contribute to patient misunderstandings about how and why to take their new medications."
The authors conclude patients who do not get all the instructions about their medication may be less likely to take it properly, partly because they don't understand how. That can lead to several problems including the patient's illness getting worse, the treatment not working, dangerous side effects, and drug overdose.
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