ABSTRACT
Objective: While pharmacies focus on interpersonal work, patients need to process a lot of information. Therefore, it is important for the pharmacy to provide information according to the situation. This study was conducted for the purpose of providing a video and paper media, and clarifying that it is useful to provide information in various mediums about the method of administering the powdered medicine, which requires an understanding of the operation.Method: Conducted a survey for those who brought prescriptions for infants from March 2016 to about a year and a half. We compared and verified the understanding of the medication method for infants between the paper medium group and the moving image medium group.Results: Differences in the background between the two media use groups were clarified, and path analysis confirmed differences in the factors that affect the reliable administration of each medium to infants. It was revealed that the evaluation of moving image media was higher than the comparison between the groups in terms of usability. Although there was no difference in the ability to use the medium at his own pace, the moving images were significantly higher in understanding the motion.Discussion: There is a limit to the understanding of motions with a single explanation at the pharmacy counter. It was confirmed in this study that information provision using a medium that can be used depending on the situation of the patient is useful as a complementary role in medication instruction. Providing information while appropriately combining information provision in various media is thought to reduce the burden on patients and contribute to improved adherence.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The guidance on “what to do when patients missed a dose” is an important item of medication instructions; however, only a small number of prescription drugs contain it. The “Drug Guide for Patients” and “Kusuri-no-Shiori” are documents designed to facilitate medication instructions for patients, having a section on “what to do when patients missed a dose.” Specific descriptions under it differ among medication instruction documents for some drugs, including those containing the same active pharmaceutical ingredients; however, the actual status of such discrepancies has not been clarified. In this study, we conducted a fact-finding survey to clarify such discrepancies using two medication instruction documents for drugs containing the same active pharmaceutical ingredients.Methods: The medication instructions of “Drug Guides for Patients” and “Kusuri-no-Shiori” for 532 active pharmaceutical ingredients used in oral drugs were included in the survey. After reading the descriptions under the “what to do when patients missed a dose” section, we divided them into six groups and determined whether the descriptions for the same ingredient in the documents fell in the same group.Results: For 186 ingredients (35.0%), we identified discrepancies between the documents. Among these, the instructions for 61 ingredients (11.5%) contained contradicting descriptions, such as “take the missed dose as soon as you remember” in one document and “always let go of the missed dose” in another document.Conclusions: A substantial number of discrepancies in descriptions about “what to do when patients missed a dose” were found between the two documents, raising concerns of confusion in medication instructions when the documents used were different. Therefore, the descriptions should be improved to resolve the discrepancies among medication instruction documents. Moreover, it is important for pharmacists or other healthcare professionals to review the descriptions thoroughly before using the document to provide appropriate medication instructions without confusion.
ABSTRACT
Objective: We evaluated patients’ degree of understanding of the effects and adverse drug reactions of SGLT2 inhibitors.Methods: We targeted 26 patients who were administered SGLT2 inhibitors during hospitalizations between April 2017 and March 2018. The survey was conducted by interviewing the patients using a questionnaire.Results: In total, 14 patients (53. 8%) were able to explain the term “efficacy.” Although 6 patients (23. 1%) understood “dehydration,” there was little understanding of “urinary tract infection” (7.7%) and “rash/erythema” (2 and 0 patients, respectively). In addition, we confirmed the details of the descriptions of adverse reactions caused by SGLT2 inhibitors with pharmacists, and found that 13 patients (50.0%) clearly received an explanation of “dehydration,” only 3 patients received an explanation of “urinary tract infection” (11.5%), and none of them comprehended “rash/erythema.” Overall, the patients’ awareness of the adverse drug reactions of SGLT2 inhibitors was low.Conclusion: Unlike common drugs for diabetes, SGLT2 inhibitors have been attracting attention as protective agents of the heart and kidneys. Therefore, it is expected that prescriptions for SGLT2 will increase in the future. Pharmacists need to explain the effects and adverse drug reactions of SGLT2 inhibitors to the patients as well as make the patients understand the pharmacological mechanisms of action of SGLT2 inhibitors.
ABSTRACT
<b>Objective: </b>Many studies on patient satisfaction are conducted in community pharmacies. In contrast, the present study assess the community pharmacy function and to the best of our knowledge, appears to be the first to evaluate the professional functions of pharmacists.<br><b>Methods: </b>In September 2010, in 1 week, we conducted a survey that focused on pharmacists’ professional abilities. I subjected the responses to factor analysis and covariance structure analysis.<br><b>Results: </b>We obtained 2,506 effective responses (appropriately completed and returned questionnaires) of the 4,633 questionnaires originally distributed. Data of seven dimensions were obtained for factor analysis. In all, the various information provision services rendered by a pharmacist were not significant. According to the covariance structure analysis, “safety” (a pharmaceutical management item) and “responsiveness” (a complimentary element) were significant factors. Differences in the degree of influence were confirmed for each parameter in the analysis, depending on the parameter. In addition, the information provision services were significant during the acute period.<br><b>Conclusion: </b>Because the information provision services were not significant, the influence of “asymmetric information” warrant further analysis according to the specialty. I believe that it is necessary to examine asymmetric information in greater detail in the future. In addition, I think that an interventional study that is based on these results is also necessary.