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Sept. 25, 2006 -- Americans are taking more and more prescription drugs, but their doctors are doing a poor job of communicating critical information about the medications they prescribe, UCLA researchers report.
In a study that included surveys of both doctors and patients, as well as taped transcripts of actual office visits, the researchers concluded that all too often doctors did not tell their patients why they were prescribing specific medications.
They also frequently failed to tell them about the potential adverse side effects of the drugs they prescribed, or even the names of the drugs.
Poor communications between doctors and their patients can lead to easily avoidable prescription drug misuses, including drug overdoses and underuse.
"The message to patients is that they should not be afraid to ask questions about the drugs that are prescribed for them, and the message to physicians is that patients need this information," researcher Derjung M. Tarn, MD, PhD, tells WebMD.
Almost half of all Americans regularly take at least one prescription drug, and half of older patients take at least three or more, according to a report released in 2004 by the National Center on Health Statistics.
Prescription drug misuse is a growing problem in health care, which contributes to thousands of deaths each year.
What You Need to Know
According to recommendations from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) --the federal agency charged with improving health care quality -- all patients should be given basic information about the drugs that are prescribed for them, including: