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Patients Understanding of Drug-Drug Interactions Information - A Qualitative, Semi-structured Interview Study

Background Information regarding drug-drug interactions aimed at patients is lacking, even though that is information highly requested by patients. Stockholm County Council is therefore evaluating the need and usability of a patient-version of the Janusmed Interactions database.

Aim To evaluate the patient-version of drug-drug interaction information texts with regards to the layman’s ability to understand the text, and whether this information would lead to patients acting on their own accord, without consulting their prescriber.

Method Using an interview-form developed especially for this project, semi-structured interviews were conducted in four cities and towns in Sweden during the spring of 2022. The respondents were asked to read and comment on their understanding of the patient-version of three different texts describing drug-drug interactions.

Results Sixty-two individuals of varying age and educational background were interviewed. The vast majority (94 %) expressed that the texts were easy to understand. Almost 70 % of all respondents would consult an expert, such as a physician or staff at a community pharmacy, before making any changes to the treatment.

Conclusion Since the majority of the respondents could easily understand the information and would primarily consult their prescribing physician or personnel at a community pharmacy, a patient-version of Janusmed Interactions would be unlikely to pose a risk to patients’ safety.