Laboratoire de pharmacologie médicale et clinique, université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.
Service de médecine gériatrique, gérontopôle, CHU de Toulouse, 31000 Toulouse, France.
Therapie. 2019 Dec;74(6):591-598. doi: 10.1016/j.therap.2019.03.003. Epub 2019 Apr 2.
Faced with the increasing number of pharmaceutical products on the market, several pharmacovigilance notifications regarding confusion between look-alike and sound-alike drugs have been reported. This study of perception among patients, family physicians and pharmacists aims to evaluate drug identification factors and the risk of errors of confusion for patients.
Patients were systematically approached in randomly selected pharmacies within the Midi-Pyrénées region in France and invited to complete a questionnaire. Two other questionnaires were respectively sent to family physicians and pharmacists in the same region asking for their opinion on patients' perception of the identification of prescribed medicines.
Of the 768 patients interviewed, most report identifying their medications by name (brand name: 50%; generic: 21%), while a smaller number cite physical appearance (box: 16%, tablet: 7% and blister packaging: 3%). In practice the factors considered most likely to cause confusion by patients relate to drug appearance (look-alike tablets: 28%, look-alike boxes: 20% and look-alike blister packaging: 13%). In contrast, look-alike and sound-alike names (generic and brand names combined) were cited in 31% of cases. Physicians (n=345) and pharmacists (n=198) understimate that patients identify their treatment by name (physicians: 46%; pharmacists: 26% vs. patients: 71%), reporting instead that problems arise mainly from the appearance of medicines (physicians: identification: 52% and risk factors for confusion: 74%; pharmacists: identification: 74% and risk factors for confusion: 83%; versus patients: identification: 26%; risk factors for confusion: 61%).
Our study highlights the critical role of medication name in identifying drugs among patients. However, confusion of look-alike tablets or pills figures prominently among fears surrounding medication errors. Despite several notifications of pharmacovigilance, this issue appears to be underestimated within the body of medical literature. Proper identification of medicines by patients is essential to improving medication safety and therapeutic compliance. Concrete measures can be undertaken to reach this goal.
面对市场上不断增加的药品数量，已经报告了几起因类似外观和发音的药物而引起的药物警戒通知。这项针对患者、家庭医生和药剂师感知的研究旨在评估药物识别因素以及患者混淆错误的风险。
在法国米迪-庇里牛斯地区的随机选择的药房中系统地接触患者，并邀请他们完成一份问卷。另外还向同一地区的家庭医生和药剂师发送了两份问卷，征求他们对患者对所开药物识别的看法。
在接受采访的 768 名患者中，大多数人报告通过名称（品牌名：50%；通用名：21%）来识别他们的药物，而较小比例的人引用外观（盒子：16%，片剂：7%和泡罩包装：3%）。实际上，患者认为最容易引起混淆的因素与药物外观有关（类似的片剂：28%，类似的盒子：20%和类似的泡罩包装：13%）。相比之下，在 31%的情况下，类似名称（通用名和品牌名组合）被引用。医生（n=345）和药剂师（n=198）低估了患者通过名称识别他们的治疗方法（医生：46%；药剂师：26% 与患者：71%），而是报告说，问题主要出现在药物的外观上（医生：识别：52%和混淆的危险因素：74%；药剂师：识别：74%和混淆的危险因素：83%；与患者：识别：26%；混淆的危险因素：61%）。
我们的研究强调了药物名称在患者识别药物方面的关键作用。然而，类似外观的片剂或药丸的混淆在药物错误的担忧中占据显著地位。尽管已经有几起药物警戒通知，但这个问题在医学文献中似乎被低估了。患者正确识别药物对于提高药物安全性和治疗依从性至关重要。可以采取具体措施来实现这一目标。
