Adequacy of time spent with the physician and patient reported drug regimen adherence behaviors

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the patients' perspective of the length of their patient-physician consult and its relationship to reported adherence and unmet drug information needs. METHODS: A convenience sample of 366 adult patients with chronic conditions was interviewed when leaving 20 Egyptian pharmacies after filling at least one prescription. Patients were asked whether they spent adequate time with their physician, took their refill drug as prescribed, might decrease or increase a drug dose without consulting their physician and needed to know more about their drugs. KEY FINDINGS: Only 55.2% of patients reported they spent adequate time with their physician. Patients spending adequate time with the physician were less likely to report that they needed more information about their drugs (60.9% versus 79.3%), might decrease (21.8% versus 31.7% ) or increase(11.9% versus 19.5% ) a dose without consulting their physician and were more likely to report taking the drug as prescribed (94.1% versus 83.5%). Patients with limited education and patients taking multiple drugs were less likely to report that they spent adequate time with the physician. CONCLUSION: Physicians need to take the time to identify patient questions and understanding before patients leave a visit given the high percent of respondents who did not believe they received adequate time with their physician, and that this is associated with both unmet information needs and reported nonadherence, particularly for high need patients.