Survey on Patients' View of Pharmaceuticals in the Multiple Medical Institutions.

A questionnaire survey of patinets' views regarding pharmaceuticals was carried on 4264 drugadministered patients more than 16 years of age at 13 medical institutions, consisting 9 hospitals and 4 pharmacies in the suburbs of Niigata City.The results were as follows:1. The degree of patinet concern about pharmaceuticals was 33.7%(95% confidence interval 27.8-39.6). The score was significantly higher in young patients than in elderly patients (P<0.0001), in females than in males (P=0.0002), in inpatients than in outpatients (P< 0.0001) and in the 2 university hospitals than in the other 11 institutions (P< 0.0001).2. Regarding the information which the patients wanted to know about the pharmaceuticals, 53.1 % wanted to know about the “effects of the drugs”, 44.7% about the “adverse effects of the drugs”, 27.2% about “drug interactions” and 21.2% about “name of drugs” . Therefore, a high percentage of patients wanted to know about both the “effects of the drugs” and the “adverse effects of the drugs” .3. The degree of patient anxiety about any adverse effects of the drugs was 23.0%(95% confidence interval 19.7-26.3). This percentage was significantly higher in young patients than in aged patients (P< 0.0001), in females than in males (P<0.0001), in the 6 institutions providing no 300 drug information than in the 7 institutions providing drug information (P=0.0431) and in the 9hospitals than in the 4 pharmacies (P<0.0001).