Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacy Education and Clinical Services Directorate, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.
Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacy Education and Clinical Services Directorate, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 20;14(1):28751. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-76113-6.
Medication discontinuation poses a significant challenge to the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions and overall patient treatment outcomes. Improving the pharmaceutical dosage forms' acceptability for patients, knowledge of proper ways for medication usage, and proper storage of medications play an indispensable role in enhancing patient safety. Thus the present study aimed to assess patients' preferences for pharmaceutical dosage forms, their knowledge of storage of medications, and factors associated with medication discontinuation among patients attending Red Cross pharmacies in Northwest Ethiopia. This multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted from January 16, 2024, to February 15, 2024. The collected data was entered into EpiData (version 4.6.0) and statistical analysis was carried out by exporting to STATA version 14. A p-value of less than 0.05 was statistically considered as significant. Among 388 study participants, more than half (54.4%) had a history of medication discontinuation and frequency of administration was the most contributing factor (39.4%). The common reason for study participants' dosage form preferences was the ease of use (62.1%), followed by high efficacy and safety (11.9%). Rural residency [AOR = 1.61; 95%CI: 1.03, 2.52], number of medications [AOR = 4.29; 95%CI: 2.03, 9.06], preference for the type of dosage forms [AOR = 5.86; 95% CI: 3.36, 10.21], and frequency of administration [AOR = 2.49; 95%CI: 1.55, 3.99] were factors significantly associated with medication discontinuation. The present study revealed that more than half of the study participants had a history of medication discontinuation.To reduce medication discontinuation and enhance the treatment outcome of patients, medical and pharmacy professionals should improve information concerning dosage forms and their acceptability for patients through ongoing patient education and training.
停药对治疗干预的效果和患者整体治疗结果构成重大挑战。提高患者对药物剂型的接受程度、了解正确的用药方法和正确储存药物，对提高患者安全性至关重要。因此，本研究旨在评估患者对药物剂型的偏好、对药物储存的知识，以及与在埃塞俄比亚西北部红十字会药房就诊的患者停药相关的因素。这项多中心横断面研究于 2024 年 1 月 16 日至 2 月 15 日进行。收集的数据输入 EpiData（版本 4.6.0），并通过导出到 STATA 版本 14 进行统计分析。统计上认为 p 值小于 0.05 具有显著性。在 388 名研究参与者中，超过一半（54.4%）有停药史，给药频率是最主要的影响因素（39.4%）。研究参与者选择药物剂型的常见原因是使用方便（62.1%），其次是高疗效和高安全性（11.9%）。农村居住[OR=1.61；95%CI：1.03，2.52]、用药数量[OR=4.29；95%CI：2.03，9.06]、对剂型类型的偏好[OR=5.86；95%CI：3.36，10.21]和给药频率[OR=2.49；95%CI：1.55，3.99]是与停药显著相关的因素。本研究表明，超过一半的研究参与者有停药史。为了减少停药和提高患者的治疗效果，医疗和药剂专业人员应通过持续的患者教育和培训，提高患者对药物剂型及其可接受性的信息。
