Knowledge of and attitudes to medicines in the Southampton community.

A 1 in 200 sample of the Southampton electorate was sent a postal questionnaire in January, 1984. Of the 740 adults surveyed, 443 (59.9%) returned completed questionnaires. One hundred and eighty-eight (42.4%) of those replying had been prescribed a medicine within the previous month. Two hundred and seventy-five respondents (62%) felt that not enough was explained about medicines by doctors or pharmacists. Consistent with this, was the fact that 37% were unaware of safe methods of disposal of leftover medicines. In addition, 112 of 154 (72.7%) people currently taking a prescribed medicine knew of no side-effects which could result from this. Eighty-three per cent of respondents thought an information leaflet would be helpful. Of nine items which previous authors had suggested should be included, seven were thought to be important by more than 75% of those replying. Although 54% of people wanted detailed information, 43% stated a preference for short, summarized points. We conclude that most patients need to have more information about prescribed medicines and they would welcome written leaflets. However, further work is necessary to determine the best format for such leaflets.