Table 3.
Examples of family members' understandings of patients' medications
| Medication (actual purpose of medication) | Expression of understanding by family member |
|---|---|
| Examples demonstrating good understanding of medications' purpose | |
| Dicloxacillin (patient on medication for treatment of infected left hip) | ‘Well, the doctors have to get rid of the infection in his hip…This antibiotic, the dicloxacillin, is the only one that will halt the infection'. [FM3] |
| Warfarin (patient on medication to prevent clots developing from atrial fibrillation) | ‘Yes, I know about warfarin. It is a nasty thing that can mess up your dose and bleeding if you take too much. Mum has had atrial fibrillation and a mild stroke so the warfarin helps with that.” [FM19] |
| Oxycodone (patient on medication for left thigh pain and amputation of leg) | “He has had this medication Endone (oxycodone) for pain relief in his leg, and I know it can cause him to have bad dreams, which can upset him'. [FM24] |
|
Amantadine (patient on medication for Parkinson's disease) Cabergoline (patient on medication for Parkinson's disease) Carbidopa(patient on medication for Parkinson's disease) Carbidopa, entacapone, and levodopa (Stalevo) (patient on medication for Parkinson's disease) |
‘Oh, I know the names of all the medications that he [patient] needs for Parkinson's disease. There's Symmetrel [amantadine], Stalevo [carbidopa, entacapone, and levodopa combination], Sinemet [carbidopa], and Cabaser [cabergoline]. They all work in different ways. Symmetrel is a special one to control the dyskinesia – that's the jerky movements he gets. Stalevo stops the wearing off effects of his other tablets'. [FM26] |
| Trifluoperazine (severe anxiety) | ‘My mum has been on Stelazine [trifluoperazine] for a while now. She has been using it for when she gets very anxious. But when I talked to the doctor about it he said that we needed to wean her off it because it could cause Parkinson's effects'. [FM31] |
| Examples demonstrating poor understanding of medications' purpose | |
| Pantoprazole (dyspepsia, prevention of peptic ulceration) | ‘Pantoprazole ‐ oh, I'm not sure about that one. Is that one for the bowel, to slow down her motions?’ [FM5] |
| Isosorbide mononitrate (coronary heart disease) | ‘I really don't know about that one. I know that he is on some medications for his diabetes and he has some leg pain, and he has been taking some pain relief for that’. [FM13] |
|
Amlodipine (blood pressure control) Atenolol (blood pressure control) Ramipril (blood pressure control) |
‘I don't really know about those medications. I have trust in the cardiac specialist who prescribed them. I think they are there to help with his heart’. [FM17] |
| Sertraline (for treatment of depression) | ‘My mum has been taking sertraline, I think that's what you call it. She has been taking it for cholesterol for the last couple of months’. [FM19] |
| Diazepam (allay anxiety and assist with sleep) | ‘He takes the Valium [diazepam] for pain. He has been on it for about 12 months now for a throat problem. It helps to ease the pain of indigestion’. [FM30] |