Ganatra Hammad Ashraf, Bhurgri Hadi, Channa Roomasa, Bawany Fauzia Ahmad, Zafar Syed Nabeel, Chaudhry Rafia Ishfaq, Batool Syeda Hina, Basit Abdul, Asghar Mehmood, Saleem Sarah, Naqvi Haider
Medical College, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
PLoS One. 2009;4(2):e4620. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004620. Epub 2009 Feb 27.
Studies have shown a high prevalence of psychiatric illnesses among patients in primary health care settings. Family physicians have a fundamental role in managing psychiatric illness with psychopharmacological medications. Providing information about the disease, its management and the potential adverse effects of the medications is an important part of the management of mental illnesses. Our objective was to determine if patients who were prescribed psychopharmacological drugs by family physicians at a community health center in Karachi, Pakistan were provided adequate education about their disease and its management.
A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Community Health Centre (CHC), Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. Details about the prescriptions and patient education were acquired from the patients after their consultations.
A total of 354 adult patients were interviewed during 3 days. Among them, 73 (20.6%) were prescribed psychopharmacological medications. Among patients receiving psychopharmacological medicines, 37 (50.7%) did not know their diagnosis; 50 (68.5%) were unaware of the disease process; 52 (71.2%) were unaware of alternative treatments; 63 (86.3%) were not cautioned about the potential adverse effects of the drugs; 24 (32.9%) were unaware of the duration of treatment and in 60 (82.2%) of the participants an appropriate referral had not been discussed. For all aspects of education, patients prescribed psychopharmacological medications knew less as compared to those patients that were prescribed other medications.
The practice of imparting information to patients who receive psychopharmacological medications seems to be inadequate in Pakistan. We have hypothesized about the possible reasons for our findings, and identified a need for further research to determine the cause for such findings and to address them accordingly. At the same time there is a need to educate family physicians in Pakistan about the special importance of providing adequate information to such patients.
研究表明，基层医疗保健机构的患者中精神疾病患病率很高。家庭医生在使用精神药物治疗精神疾病方面起着重要作用。提供有关疾病、其治疗方法以及药物潜在不良反应的信息是精神疾病管理的重要组成部分。我们的目的是确定在巴基斯坦卡拉奇的一家社区卫生中心，由家庭医生开具精神药物的患者是否得到了关于其疾病及其治疗的充分教育。
在巴基斯坦卡拉奇阿迦汗大学医院社区卫生中心进行了一项横断面研究。在患者就诊后，从他们那里获取了有关处方和患者教育的详细信息。
在3天内共采访了354名成年患者。其中，73人（20.6%）被开具了精神药物。在接受精神药物治疗的患者中，37人（50.7%）不知道自己的诊断；50人（68.5%）不了解疾病进程；52人（71.2%）不知道替代治疗方法；63人（86.3%）未被告知药物的潜在不良反应；24人（32.9%）不知道治疗持续时间，60名参与者（82.2%）未讨论过适当的转诊问题。在教育的各个方面，开具精神药物的患者比开具其他药物的患者了解得更少。
在巴基斯坦，向接受精神药物治疗的患者提供信息的做法似乎并不充分。我们对研究结果的可能原因进行了假设，并确定需要进一步研究以确定这些结果的原因并相应地加以解决。与此同时，有必要对巴基斯坦的家庭医生进行教育，使其了解向此类患者提供充分信息的特殊重要性。
