Estimates suggest the number of people that use their medications incorrectly falls between 30 and 50 per cent of the using population. Quite frankly, that number is as incorrect as the way the medication is taken. The more logical and more factual number should fall in the 60 per cent range.
Based on the number of prescriptions filled (the last complete sampling was in 1994), two billion, that would come to 1.2 billion mis-taken, wrongly used prescriptions. According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), one of the main reasons for such widespread misuse is a lack of information disseminated by pharmacists.
"More patients would receive more and better medication information with their prescriptions if guidelines for patient education proposed by the FDA were to be adopted," said FDA Commissioner David Kessler. "This program will increase patient awareness and participation in decisions concerning their health and welfare. It will also encourage adherence to medical regimens," he said.
Under the proposed program, an estimated 75 per cent of the patients getting prescriptions filled would receive adequate, useful, easily understood information that met with quality standards. All that by the end of the century. Following the attainment of that goal, the agency would attempt, by 2006, to ensure such information would reach 95 per cent of the prescription consuming public.
A noble project, but not one as reachable as the FDA and Kessler seem to think. For one thing, better than half the Rx consuming public neglects to read the information already given to them. Add to that the fact the rather alarming number of functional illiterates who cannot read and another alarming number that really cannot interpret a set of written instructions and you are left with a monumental problem.
Now add one more ingredient to the mix. If the prescription (pill, liquid, capsule) makes the patient feel well with one dose every four hours, wouldn't two make him/her feel twice as well? If the pain is reduced with one every eight hours, wouldn't it be better to take one every four? Non-compliance is the major culprit in the drug market. Taking what makes one feel better more frequently rather than how it is prescribed is a stupendous problem.
Calling the physician and complaining of a lingering malady is usually enough to garner one or more refills. With the frenetic pace of today's society, there is scarcely time for a physician to give even a cursory inspection of a patient's problem. The physician thus resorts to relying on the observations of nurses, non-professionals and the protestations of the patient over the phone. His judgments are based on hunches and limited by time constraints. His prescriptions, then, are the result of not poor medical practice, but absolutely no time to properly assess the situation.
Go To Page: 1 2
