Background: Written medicine information can play an important role in educating consumers about their\nmedicines. In Australia, standardised, comprehensive written information known as Consumer Medicine Information\n(CMI) is available for all prescription medicines. CMI is reportedly under-utilised by general practitioners (GPs) and\ncommunity pharmacists in consultations, despite consumer desire for medicine information. This study aimed to\ndetermine consumers�, GPs� and community pharmacists� preferences for CMI provision and identify barriers and\nfacilitators to its use.\nMethod: Structured questionnaires were developed and administered to a national sample of Australian consumers\n(phone survey), community pharmacists and GPs (postal surveys) surrounding utilisation of CMI. Descriptive and\ncomparative analyses were conducted.\nResults: Half of consumers surveyed wanted to receive CMI for their prescription medicine, with spoken\ninformation preferable to written medicine information for many consumers and healthcare professionals. GPs and\npharmacists remained a preferred source of medicine information for consumers, although package inserts were\nappealing to many among all three cohorts. Overall pharmacists were the preferred provider of CMI primarily due\nto their medicine expertise, accessibility and perceived availability. GPs preferred CMI dissemination through both\nthe GP and pharmacist. Some consumers preferred GPs as the provider of medicines information because of their\nknowledge of the patients� medicines and/or medical history, regularity of seeing the patient and good relationship\nwith the patient. Common barriers to CMI provision cited included: time constraints, CMI length and perceptions\nthat patients are not interested in receiving CMI. Facilitators to enhance provision included: strategies to increase\nconsumer awareness, longer consultation times and counseling appointments, and improvements to pharmacy\nsoftware technology and workflow.\nConclusion: Medicine information is important to consumers, whether as spoken, written or a combination of\nboth. A tailored approach is needed to ascertain individual patient preference for delivery and scope of medicine\ninformation desired so that appropriate information is provided. The barriers of time and perceived attitudes of\nhealthcare practitioners present challenges which may be overcome through changes to workplace practices,\nadoption of identified facilitators, and education about the positive benefits of CMI as a tool to engage and\nempower patients.
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