COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EDUCATED AND UNEDUCATED POPULATION REGARDING KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND UNDERSTANDING OF PRESCRIPTION: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Dr. Kiran R. Giri*, Dr. Reena R. Giri, Dr. Kamlesh M. Palandurkar, Dr. Swanand Pathak, Dr. Shraddha Tatkare, Dr. Anita Yuwnati

ABSTRACT

Rationale: Rational use of drug is important for correct prescription; it should fulfil SANE criteria, which means Safety, Affordability, Need, and Efficacy of the drug should always be consider before prescribing it to the patient. Prescription errors are the most prominent type of medication errors. Objective: To assess the present status of knowledge about knowledge, attitude and understanding of prescription in the patients and its correlation with education. Method: A prevalidated questionnaire based study was conducted amongst 200 patients of tertiary health care hospital. The questionnaire consisted of specific questions regarding understanding of prescription, Questions regarding knowledge of patients and relatives about availability of same drugs with same combinations with different trade names and with different costs, knowledge about purchasing other brand of drugs instead of prescribed one, taking same drugs, buying incomplete dose of drugs. Statistical Analysis: Data was analyzed using Fishers exact test to determine the impact of education on the answers. Result: Significantly large proportion of patients opined that doctors do not have sufficient time to explain the prescription and they are not aware of generic drugs, cost affect their purchase of prescription. Conclusion: Clinically relevant, up to date, user specific, independent, objective and unbiased Medicines Information is the right of every patient and essential for appropriate drug use and can help in a big way to common public to address many problems faced by them.

Keywords: Clinically relevant, education, Prescription, Unbiased.