Patient knowledge and source of knowledge concerning medicines

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the nurse had moved toward the contemporary advocated practice of including the patient in his nursing care. Pharmacological therapy was the facet of nursing care that was investigated. It was hypothesized the (1) patients were not informed nor instructed by nursed about the medicines they received; (2) patients actually want to know more about the medicines that are receiving; (3) patients who are informed about their care in the area of pharmacotherapeutics would be able to contribute to their own care by recognizing error in that care. The sample consisted of 100 male and female patients (50 medical and 50 surgical) between the ages of 20 and 60 who had not be in the hospital longer that 48 hours. All three hypotheses were supported by the results of this study. Eight-five percent of all patients did not know the name of the medicine they were taking. Seventy-three percent did not know the action of their medicine. Ninety-seven percent did not know the common untoward effect of their medicines. The patients had not received any of the information they had from nurses. Eighty percent desired to know more about their medicines and the patients who were informed about their care in the area of medication administration were able to recognize error in the care significantly more often than those patients who were not informed.