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The Evaluation of Physician Counseling when Prescribing New Medications: An Observational, Survey Study
Latifa Al-Buainain, Suha Malek, Hamad Ammar, Sawsan Abdulla Hasan, Asma Abu Baker Hasan
Abstract
Objective
Patient education about medications being used highly improves the quality of proper use and compliance, to which the WHO has created guidelines of good prescribing.
The main objective of this observational study is to assess the effectiveness of physician counseling and their compliance to the WHO guidelines to good prescribing when given the chance to prescribing new medications to patients coming for a follow up in various clinics in the Bahrain Defense Force Hospital in the form of a survey over a period of two weeks.
Participants /Method
401 patient interviews were randomly chosen and included in the data analysis. 33 physicians were assigned in the survey, from which there were 7 cardiologists, 5 general practitioners, 3 diabetologists, 3 dermatologists, 2 endocrinologists, 5 pediatricians, 3 vascular surgeons, and 5 internists.
The survey was developed based on the standards mentioned in the WHO guidelines.
Main Outcome
The main outcome was to observe and assess how efficient are physicians from various clinics in successfully prescribing new medications to patients through ten WHO standards.
Results:
Data revealed that in general and for the most part the quality of instructions and information given to patients while prescribing new medications was relatively unsatisfactory in most clinics, although it was found that prescribing patterns differs from one physician to the other.
American Journal of Internal Medicine