Questions elderly patients have about on-going therapy: a pilot study to assist in communication with physicians.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This pilot study examined the prevalence and types of questions elderly patients have about their current drug therapy. It also evaluated the effectiveness of a brief intervention to prepare patients to ask questions about drug therapy during medical visits. DESIGN AND METHODS: The research used a posttest-only experimental design. Forty-five elderly patients seen at a primary care clinic during a one-month period consented to participate and completed the study. After consent, subjects were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. A brief interview with intervention group subjects conducted by a medical student assigned to the clinic as part of a summer research experience helped subjects formulate questions they had about current therapy before they went into medical visits. Patient-physician visits were audiotaped and patient questions about medications and health care were tallied.
RESULTS: Subjects in the intervention group were significantly more likely to ask questions of providers than were subjects in the control group. Intervention group subjects were found to ask a wider variety of medication-related questions than were control group subjects, including questions related to proper use, problems perceived with medications, and effectiveness of treatment. IMPLICATIONS: Assisting patients to formulate questions before medical visits results in an increased likelihood that patients will ask questions and will ask a wider variety of questions during the medical visit.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes