KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TO PRESCRIBED DRUGS IN YOUNG AND ELDERLY PATIENTS

Increasing patient knowledge of drug therapy is said to improve compli ance and may reduce adverse drug reactions. We assessed patient knowle dge of prescribed drugs in fifty patients attending a hypertension cli nic [outpatients] and in elderly patients on admission to (n=129) and on discharge from (n=100) an acute geriatric assessment unit, We found that 88% of outpatients, 40% of elderly admissions, and 41% of elderl y discharges knew the indications for their therapy; only 40% of outpa tients, 8% of elderly admissions and 12% of elderly discharges could n ame their medications. Patients said that their information came princ ipally from the prescribing doctor, In a further study we assessed doc tor, nurse, young and elderly patients' ability to discriminate betwee n commonly prescribed white tablets. Errors were made by the doctors o n 25% occasions, nurses on 40% occasions and patients on 61% occasions , Young patients made errors 67% of the time and elderly patients 55% of the time. These studies indicate that both inpatients and outpatien ts, both young and elderly have poor knowledge of their medications. I n addition, many commonly prescribed drugs are not easily distinguisha ble by patient, prescriber or drug administrator. We conclude that the re is a need to improve knowledge both in patients and in prescribers. We suggest that prescribers should consider the colour and shape of m edications prescribed concurrently as many ''little white tablets'' ar e difficult to tell apart.