Patients knowledge of their anti-diabetic medication and sources of medication information at The Universirty Teaching Hospital in Lusaka

Objectives
A patient’s knowledge of their medication is not only vital in the prevention of drug related problems, but is also a major factor that influences treatment success. This study aimed at evaluating patients’ knowledge of their anti-diabetic medication in relation to drug name, duration of therapy, dose, side effects, administration, storage, purpose of medication and to identify the sources of patients anti-diabetic medication information. The study further determined whether there was an association between the patients’ age, gender, educational level and sources of information with patients’ knowledge of their anti-diabetic medication at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
Materials and methods
A cross-sectional study involving the interview of 377 diabetic patients was conducted, in the in patients and out patients departments of Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynaecology and Surgery at the University Teaching Hospital. All patients on anti-diabetic medication who met the inclusion criteria of the study made up the study population. Data analysis was done using SPSS 16 and association of anti-diabetic medication knowledge with age, educational level, gender, sources of medication information was done by using Pearson chi square test.
Results
Out of the 377 patients 52.2%, 20.7% and 27.1% had good, average and poor individual knowledge of their anti-diabetic medication respectively. Of the 377 patients 80.6% and 63.4% knew the name(s) and dose of their diabetes medication respectively. More than half (81.7%) of the study patients knew the purpose of their anti diabetic medication. About half 51.5% were not aware of the duration of therapy for diabetes. Of the 377 patients75.9%, 28.9% and 8.5% did not know the side effects, administration and storage of their medication respectively. A significant association between level of education and patients’ knowledge was observed (p<0.001). There was no association between patients’ knowledge of their anti-diabetic medication with sources of medication information, age and gender.