Analysis of factors influencing the self-regulation of medication and construction of an educational program for patients with chronic hepatic diseases

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to construct an educational program for patients with chronic hepatic diseases to avoid self-regulation of medication. We have statistically analyzed the influencing factors of self- regulation from the following 3 viewpoints. First, in the investigation of the number of and the kind of prescribed medicines, it was found that the number of prescribed medicines increased sharply at the stage of Liver Cirrhosis b. Secondly, in the survey of patients' awareness of medication, it was found that self-regulation was influenced by lack of understanding the effects of medicines and the necessity of medication, and by lack of understanding the clinical conditions. Especially, at the stage of Liver Cirrhosis b, self-regulation was strongly influenced by lack of understanding the clinical conditions. Lastly, in the evaluation of patients' characteristics by pharmacists, self-regulation was also strongly influenced by the level of understanding the necessity of medication, understanding the clinical conditions, a patient-doctor relationship, and anxiety about side- effects of medicines. Therefore we have constructed an educational program for patients from the viewpoint of medication. The information consists of two articles; one is the action mechanism of the medicine connected with the clinical conditions to help the patients understand the necessity of medication; the other is how to check the effect and adverse reaction of the medication by themselves to decrease the anxiety about side-effects. Consequently, the medication management and the consultation for inpatients with chronic hepatic diseases were standardized by incorporating the education with the information described above.