Most patients don't know which medications they are taking

November 7, 2007

A recent study showed that patients with high blood pressure who have little education could not adequately identify which medications they were taking when asked by their doctors, reports the Chicago Tribune. The study, done by researchers at Northwestern University's Institute for Healthcare Studies, questioned 119 low-income patients from clinics in the Chicago area, most of whom were middle aged. Findings showed that half of those patients could identify which medications they were taking.

One effect of patients not knowing what medications they are taking is that doctors may prescribe patients the wrong additional medication because the doctor was told by the patient that he or she was taking a different medication than he or she actually was taking. For blood pressure patients specifically, that can mean even more trouble, since those patients often are taking two or three pills each day.

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