Abstract
Aim: We aimed to assess adult primary health care (PHC) users' understanding of their medication information in a transitional South Eastern European population across seven domains.Methods: A cross-sectional study, carried out in Albania in 2018–19, included a representative sample of 1,553 PHC users aged ≥18 years (55% women; overall mean age: 54.6 ± 16.4 years; overall response rate: 94%). Participants were asked about their understanding of information they received from their respective family physicians about prescribed medicines in terms of factors like cost, dosage, and side-effects. Socio-demographic data were also gathered. Binary logistic regression was employed to assess the socio-demographic predictors of information about medication use and administration.Results: Across different aspects of use and administration, 21–60% of participants did not understand their medications. Less understanding of medication use was particularly high among the poor and those with low education and among urban residents, irrespective of socioeconomic status.Conclusion: This study provides important evidence about the level and socio-demographic determinants on understanding of information about medication use and administration among adult PHC users in a transitional former communist country in South Eastern Europe. Policymakers should be aware of the joint role and interplay between health literacy (demand side) and information provision (supply side), which both significantly influence the understanding of medication use by the general population.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the rational use of medicines is defined as follows: “Patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community” [1]
Policymakers should be aware of the joint role and interplay between health literacy and information provision, which both significantly influence the understanding of medication use by the general population
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the rational use of medicines is defined as follows: “Patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community” [1]. Information About Medication Use use of medicines, which include governmental and other sectoral and inter-sectoral interventions toward this aim targeting simultaneously the whole system, the supply (health care providers) and demand (health care consumers) side [2]. In order to adequately and safely prescribe medicines, health personnel must effectively explain medication use and administration to patients, a process that is increasingly complex given the increasing number and heterogeneity of medicines available [3] To this end, the intertwined and multidirectional approaches and interventions contained in the WHO’s list of 12 core components might play a crucial role toward the enhancement of health personnel knowledge about medicines, a process that could improve both the use of medicines and the way patients are informed. Among GPs, the prevailing of spoken information to patients is mainly driven by the lack of time together with physicians’ concerns about patients’ capacity to understand written medicine information [4], with the latter being entailed in the broader concept of health literacy (HL)
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