Analysis of Knowledge, Beliefs, and Attitudes of Patients in the Emergency Service Toward Rational Drug Use

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Irrational drug use results in the inability to get the expected outcome from the treatment and inappropriate demands of patients stemming from overuse of drugs and drug addiction, and these factors lead to an increased number of applications to health institutions. This study aimed to identify the factors that affect the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of patients presenting to the emergency department in terms of rational drug use. MATERIALS and METHODS: This is descriptive cross-sectional research that includes patients who applied for treatment to the emergency department of a state hospital in Turkey between 01.08.2019-31.12.2019. The study sample was composed of 262 patients who agreed to participate in the study. The study used the Rational Drug Use Scale (RDUS) and Drug Use Health Belief Scale (DUHBS) as data collection tools. RESULTS: The mean scores of participants from RDUS (32.37 +/- 6.56) and DUHBS (144.37 +/- 19.68) were at a good level. A positive and significant relationship was found between RDUS and DUHBS mean score of patients (p <0.01). Knowledge of rational drug use differed according to age, gender, economic status, educational level, and reasons for applying to the emergency department variables (p <0.05), and health beliefs regarding drug use varied according to the gender variable (p <0.01). CONCLUSION: Study results are significant since they revealed the factors that affect the patients' knowledge of rational drug use and their related health beliefs, as well as the relationship between these factors.