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Assessing patient behaviour after calling a drug information telephone centre (MiS): what impact on the proper use of medicines?

European Statement

Clinical Pharmacy Services

Author(s)

Vanessa Gomes, Jonathan De Gregori, Greta Dusabe, Hélène Feyeux, Cyril Boronad

Why was it done?

MiS is a telephone service that provides free, reliable information about medicines to all patients and their caregivers. Requests are handled by experienced hospital pharmacists. It is important to know how patients behave after calling MiS in order to assess the benefits of this service on the proper use of medicines.

What was done?

The aim of this study was to assess patients’ behaviour regarding their medication after calling the MiS.

How was it done?

After prior agreement, patients were called back 7 days later to answer a specific survey including six questions: Was the medication changed after the call? Did the patient follow the advice of the MiS pharmacist? Did the patient consult a doctor? or another source of information? Did the patient feel that their health had improved? What are the benefits of this service?

What has been achieved?

Between 2024/03/05 and 2024/03/18, 20 callers completed the survey (65%). Most questions concerned drug interactions (48%), followed by side effects (22%), drug stability (7%), administrative information (7%), indications/contraindications (7%), product availability (3,%), proper use (3%) and dosage (3%). Thanks to the advice of MiS pharmacists, 47% of callers started taking their medication: half of these were prescribed by their doctor and the other half self-administered. Around a third of treatments were continued without change, while 6% were modified. Finally, 12% of treatments were discontinued because of side effects. After calling MiS, 15% of patients consulted a doctor and 15% consulted other sources of information (neighbours, health professionals, etc.). More than half of the patients felt that their health had improved after calling MiS. Lastly, 70% of patients described MiS as safe, 40% as accessible, 35% as available and 30% as a time-saver.

What next?

The demand for MiS shows that patients are looking for more information about their treatments, even if they have already consulted a healthcare professional. The number of treatments prescribed by the doctor that were only initiated after the call also illustrates the benefits of the MiS service. It is an additional service that can reassure callers and contribute to the proper use of medicines by conveying a positive image of treatments and information suited to callers’ knowledge.

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