engleski

Adverse Drug Events and Desire for Information : A multi method approach

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are serious problems in patient care and responsible for causing additional complications and longer stays in a hospital. In order to prevent the huge personal and financial costs of adverse events, which are becoming rampant across health systems, an urgent review and improvement of health care procedures and systems is needed. Establishing communication between the health-care providers and the patients, as well as the provision of information about the potential side-effects, is of a great importance. The aim of the study was to explore the association between adverse drug events (ADE) and extent of information desired (EID). Patient-respondent scales adopted to measure patients’ perception about the utility of medicines (PUM), anxiety about illness (AI), and extent of information desired (EID), were used. The study design included standardised interviews of patients and appropriate statistical analysis (QSR NUD*IST, SPSS). Patient characteristics and demographics, their information requirements, perception of medicines, and how they all influence on the incidence of adverse drug events (ADE), were studied using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Patients were successfully recruited at five general medical wards in London Royal Hospital (n = 120). Significant associations were found between EID scale scores and age (p < 0.001), number of medicines (p = 0.028), duration of illness (p = 0.043) and educational status (p = 0.040) and allergy (p = 0.009). The validity of EID scale as a potentially valuable tool to measure desire for information was confirmed. AI (anxiety about illness) and PUM (patients’ perception about the utility of medicines) scales were not considered as a reliable tool for assessing anxiety about illness and patients’ perception of the utility of medicines. Is it increased knowledge that makes high scores identify an ADE more easily or the previous experience of an ADE that increase patients’ desire for information, still remains opened and needs further exploration.

adverse drug reaction (ADR); adverse drug events (ADE); extent of information desired (EID); anxiety about illness (AI)

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