Rational drug use: Knowledge and behaviors of family physicians in Hatay

Abstract

Objective: It was aimed to evaluate knowledge, general attitudes and behaviors of family physicians working in Hatay on rational drug use (RDU).

Methods: All family physicians in Hatay (n=454) planned to be trained by the Hatay Provincial Health Directorate on rational drug use were invited to the meeting in September 2018. 302 of them attended the meeting. 254 family physicians who were agreed to participate were included in the study. In this descriptive study, to collect data, a Physician Evaluation Form consisting of 17 questions similar to form which was prepared by Ministry of Health and used in “Serve Knowledge and Behaviors Towards Rational Drug Use Physician Assessment Work in hospitals in Turkey” study was used.

Results: 95.3% (n=242) of physicians had previously participated in educations on RDU, while 7.9% (n=20) stated that they considered themselves insufficient in terms of RDU. All physicians who received education, received education from the Ministry of Health at least once. The average age of the physicians in the study was 43.9±8.2 years, the average working time in primary care was 15.7±9.6 years, and the average number of patients admitted daily was 52.6±23.7. 79.9% of the physicians (n=203) stated that they used the diagnosis and treatment guidelines for the primary care when prescribing drugs. When taking anamnesis, presence of chronic disease (96.9%) and pregnancy status (94.9%) were most frequent, while the economic status of the patient (63.4%) was observed to be the least questioned. 80.7% of the physicians (n=205) stated that they clearly explain the disease and its causes to the patient, and 70.5% (n=180) stated that they explained the treatment reasons in detail. Most important source of information used by physicians in prescribing is presentations of pharmaceutical companies. The most frequent and least considered factors for physicians when prescribing were the effectiveness (90.9%) and the price of the drug (63.4%), respectively. Only 26.8% (n=68) of physicians, stated that they never prescribed drugs without examining patient. 46.9% of the physicians (n=120) stated that they always inform the patients about their side effects.

Conclusion: More attention should be paid to subject of RDU during medical school education. It is noteworthy that almost one fifth of the physicians do not benefit from any diagnostic treatment guide. Physicians do not adequately inform patients about the side effects of the drugs. Awareness should be raised about importance of notifying drug side effects. It has been observed that physicians prescribe medicines patient requested at high rate. The causes of this situation, which is an important obstacle in front of the RDU, should be investigated.