Public drug information: a telephone-based model for patient education.

As one facet of a larger investigation evaluating the various means by which patients receive information concerning their medications, a telephone-based drug information service was established for selected public use. The purpose was to detail the growth and utilization of the service, characterize the type and importance of the questions asked, and compare the potential utility with that of the USP-DI patient package insert (PPI) in responding to the public's drug information requests. Availability of the toll-free number for the Prescription Drug Information Service (PDIS) was controlled by offering it only to outpatients receiving selected medicines from the pharmacy of a large university-based medical center. The PDIS was operated by clinical pharmacists who participated in completing standardized operational data forms after each drug information call by the public. Of those calls received, 91.7% were not of a serious nature and most commonly dealt with side effects, drug interactions, and drug identification. Fifty percent of first-time calls occurred within two days of the subject's visit to the pharmacy and 23.4% of the total PDIS calls were repeat contacts. Interestingly, 34% of the patients' questions could not have been answered using the standard USP-DI PPI.

Public knowledge and attitudes about diazepam.

A total of 147 outpatients waiting for a prescription to be filled at a hospital pharmacy were tested on their knowledge about diazepam (Valium). Subjects scored highest on questions about the effects of a small overdose, the drug's interaction with alcohol and hypnotics, and the relative contraindications of pregnancy and breast-feeding. Subjects were least knowledgeable about the drug's generic name, side effects, and interaction with minor stimulants (coffee, tea, cola, and cigarettes). Subjects who had previously used diazepam (N = 97) knew significantly more than subjects who had never taken it, but subjects waiting for a diazepam prescription to be filled (N = 40) were not more knowledgeable than subjects having another type of prescription filled. In contrast to recent findings that increasing patients' drug knowledge via "Patient Package Inserts" (PPIs) may also create an overcautious attitude toward the drug, the present study finds that diazepam knowledge gained experimentally is accompanied by an attitude shift away from such overcautiousness.

Public judgments of information in a diazepam patient package insert.

As part of a larger study of the effects of giving patients written take-home information with prescription medications, a "patient package insert" (PPI) for diazepam was prepared based on content determined by "experts." This report compares the experts' judgments of what information should be included with judgments obtained from the public. Information judged to be most important for inclusion in a PPI was identified by having subjects sort cards containing facts about diazepam. Subjects who had previously used diazepam were no different in their judgments than inexperienced subjects. In general, there was a high degree of concordance between public and expert judgments and also a remarkably strong consensus across very different demographic samples. In those few instances of disagreement, the public attached even greater importance to warnings and "bad news" about diazepam than to information providing reassurances, benign general education, and "good news." To what extent patients would effectively use this information--whether conveyed by PPIs or alternative educational routes--must await empirical evaluation.