Effect of verbal encouragement on patient question-asking behaviour during medication counselling

Abstract

Abstract Context Empowering patients to take a more active role in health-related encounters is a goal of many advocates today. This stems from evidence that patients remain rather passive during interactions with doctors and pharmacists. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the effect of verbal encouragement on patient question-asking. It was hypothesised that encouragement to ask questions would elicit a freer flow of questioning. Method The study had two arms — intervention and control. The same prescription processing steps occurred for each group except that intervention subjects were presented with a short verbal message (to invite questioning) before the prescription was handed over to a pharmacist for filling. Any questions patients raised during subsequent medication counselling were recorded. Observations took place in one Canadian community pharmacy. Results A total of 127 patients were observed for study purposes (60 intervention and 67 control). A total of 141 questions were asked by 59 patients; the other 68 patients had no questions when asked. Subjects in the intervention group (one outlier removed) asked an average of 1.1 questions per encounter, while the control group asked 0.9 questions. This difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion The hypothesis of no difference in the rate of patient question-asking between groups was retained. This method of encouraging patients to become more involved in the counselling process proved unsuccessful.