When physicians prescribe a new medication... confusion ensues

According to a 2006 study of physician-patient communication during primary care visits, when physicians prescribed a new medication they:

- did not tell the patient the name of the new medication in 26% of the cases (the other way to look at the data is that the physicians stated the specific medication name for 74% of new prescriptions)

- did not explain the purpose of the medication to patients in 13% of cases (explained the purpose of the medication for 87%)

- did not tell patient about adverse side effects of the medication in 65% of cases

- did not describe to patients how long to take the medication in 66% of cases

- did not tell patients the number of pills to take in 45% of cases

- did not tell patients about medication dosing and timing in 42% of cases

References:

Hospitals: Check doctor's communication skills before buying the practice. ACP Blog.

Physician Communication When Prescribing New Medications. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:1855-1862.

Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.