Attitudes and practices of primary healthcare center patients about drug use in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE

Noncompliance is considered as a widespread but often neglected problem all over the world. In order to promote compliance, it is essential to first know the current drug use situation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the level of drug compliance in patients of a primary healthcare centre and identify factors which affect the patients' drug compliance in Turkey.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was executed in 2003 in Ilica Health Centre; a total of 280 patients took part in the study. The patients were visited at home and a questionnaire was applied in order to obtain information on compliance.

RESULTS

Overall 204 (72.8%) of patients were compliant and 76 (27.2%) were noncompliant. According to patients, the main reason for primary noncompliance was poverty.

CONCLUSION

Compliance with prescription is needed to get favourable results in treatments. The results show that even in urban areas drug compliance is still an important problem in Turkey.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The findings of this study may contribute to develop programmes to improve patient compliance in Turkey. The aims of these programs should include reducing the barriers, such as lack of social security, which prevent access to the prescribed drugs.