Objective: In this study it was aimed to assess the request of patients that admitted for prescription and to determine the situation regarding to the effect of present health system on primary care services.
Materials and Methods: Patients admitted to Van Mother-Child Health and Family Planning center for prescription in 5 workdays between 1 and 8 February 2010 were included into the cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was performed to the participants, including information about the health insurance, residence, time to come to the last control of the patient that request prescription, by whom and when the medication was recommended, demand of health insurance abuse, number of medications, whether information about the medication prescribed was given by the physician or not.
Results: A total of 441 participants, 41.5’% of them were admitted for prescription of their own medications, 45.8% for prescription of their first-degree relatives’ medication. The 79.4% of them were from urban, 20.6% from rural areas, and 58.5% of them were examined at secondary care unit, 32% at private hospitals. Health insurance of patients whose medications were prescribed at the last three days was green card with a rate of 86.5%. The 65.3% of medications requested were Rx drugs, 34.7% were over the counter. The 15.6% of the participants requested the medication to be prescribed over the health insurance of the people other than the patient that use medication. The 68.4% of participants that requested Rx drugs were informed by the physician. A significant association was found with those who requested Rx drugs and over the counter drugs regarding to be informed about medications (p=0.0001).
Conclusion: The low socioeconomic level and education level, society and the multiplicity of health problems in our region, increase the burden on health care facilities especially on primary care units
Key words: primary care, medication, patient Article Language: Turkish English
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