Introduction and Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate drug use behaviors, drug knowledge and medication adherence of patients visiting a community pharmacy.

Materials and Methods: This study was approved by Istinye University Clinical Research Ethics Committee and all the participants signed a written inform consent form. This cross-sectional study was conducted during a 2-month period on 101 patients who visited a pharmacy in Gaziosmanpaşa District in Istanbul, Turkey. During the interview, which took place only once, demographic information and data on drug use behaviors, medication adherence and medication knowledge of the patients were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using the commercial statistics program SPSS® 11.5. Continuous variables are presented as mean [standard deviation (SD)], while categorical variables are presented as percentage (%).

Results: Mean (SD) age of the patients was 35.07 (12.43) and 58.4% was male. As the patients reported, 92% knew what their medication was used for, 79% knew when their medication should be used with caution, and 92% knew how their medication should be used. On the other hand, 58% knew what to do if they forgot to take their medication and 59% knew the possible side effects of their medications. While 77% reported to read the ‘instructions for use’ and 56.4% thought that the instructions were understandable, only 7% showed high medication adherence. Of the patients 67%-96% of the patients correctly answered the “practice” questions such as ‘they do not try new drugs with the recommendation of their friends; they do not stop using their medication by themselves when their symptoms improved; etc’. Majority of the patients reported that they trusted their pharmacists to provide medication counseling (81%) and they think that all drugs should be offered to the patients at pharmacies under the supervision of a pharmacist (77%).

Discussion and Recommendations: Although the patients reported that they knew how to use their medications properly and reported to practice correctly about drug use in general, only a small minority of them showed high medication adherence, and half of them reported that they thought the instructions for use were understandable. The high level of patient-reported knowledge and practice suggest that the patients were answering the questions in a way that an ideal patient is supposed to do; therefore, conducting a similar study using real-world questions regarding the patients’ particular medications may reveal more realistic answers.

Keywords: medication knowledge, medication use behavior, medication adherence, pharmacy

Footnote: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.