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Patients´Experiences of Splitting Tablets

Received: 16 May 2013     Published: 30 June 2013
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Abstract

Objectives: To examine what patients do when they have a prescription with a dosage where tablets must be split. Methods: Interviews were performed at 12 pharmacies across Sweden with pharmacy customers who had prescriptions with a dosage meaning that the tablets have to be divided to give the prescribed individual dose. Key findings: Of the 436 pharmacy customers interviewed, 255 (58.5%) reported they divided the tablets without tools and 162 (37.2%) used tools, the most common was a knife. Only few used a tablet splitter. Almost every third patient (31.4%) stated they had problems to divide the tablets. Conclusions: Patients’ difficulties in splitting tablets are common, but seem to be overlooked. Pharmacists should be permitted to adjust dispensing to a strength corresponding to the prescribed dosage level, price policies with flat prices need to be revised to eliminate economic incentives to prescribe dosages with split tablets and a computerised decision support should be developed signalling when there is a suitable strength for the prescribed individual dose.

Published in Clinical Medicine Research (Volume 2, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14
Page(s) 58-62
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Tablet Splitting; Patient Experiences; Drug Related Problem; Sweden, Community Pharmacies

References
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[6] C. Berg and A. Ekedahl. "Dosages involving splitting tablets: common but unnecessary?," Journal of pharmaceutical health services research vol. 1, pp. 137-141, 2010.
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[15] A. Hellberg, L. Nyangen and A. Ekedahl. "Knife, scissors or razor blades...patients' experiences and problems with tablets that have to be divided [Kniv, sax eller rakblad…patienters upplevelser och problem med tabletter som måste delas]," Lakartidningen vol. 107, pp. 530-531, February 2010.
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[17] M. Gee, N. K. Hasson, T. Hahn and R. Ryono. "Effects of a tablet-splitting program in patients taking HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: analysis of clinical effects, patient satisfaction, compliance, and cost avoidance," Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy vol. 8, pp. 453-458, 2002.
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    B E Anders Ekedahl. (2013). Patients´Experiences of Splitting Tablets. Clinical Medicine Research, 2(4), 58-62. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14

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    B E Anders Ekedahl. Patients´Experiences of Splitting Tablets. Clin. Med. Res. 2013, 2(4), 58-62. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14

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    AMA Style

    B E Anders Ekedahl. Patients´Experiences of Splitting Tablets. Clin Med Res. 2013;2(4):58-62. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14,
      author = {B E Anders Ekedahl},
      title = {Patients´Experiences of Splitting Tablets},
      journal = {Clinical Medicine Research},
      volume = {2},
      number = {4},
      pages = {58-62},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cmr.20130204.14},
      abstract = {Objectives: To examine what patients do when they have a prescription with a dosage where tablets must be split. Methods: Interviews were performed at 12 pharmacies across Sweden with pharmacy customers who had prescriptions with a dosage meaning that the tablets have to be divided to give the prescribed individual dose. Key findings: Of the 436 pharmacy customers interviewed, 255 (58.5%) reported they divided the tablets without tools and 162 (37.2%) used tools, the most common was a knife. Only few used a tablet splitter. Almost every third patient (31.4%) stated they had problems to divide the tablets. Conclusions: Patients’ difficulties in splitting tablets are common, but seem to be overlooked. Pharmacists should be permitted to adjust dispensing to a strength corresponding to the prescribed dosage level, price policies with flat prices need to be revised to eliminate economic incentives to prescribe dosages with split tablets and a computerised decision support should be developed signalling when there is a suitable strength for the prescribed individual dose.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Patients´Experiences of Splitting Tablets
    AU  - B E Anders Ekedahl
    Y1  - 2013/06/30
    PY  - 2013
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14
    T2  - Clinical Medicine Research
    JF  - Clinical Medicine Research
    JO  - Clinical Medicine Research
    SP  - 58
    EP  - 62
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2326-9057
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20130204.14
    AB  - Objectives: To examine what patients do when they have a prescription with a dosage where tablets must be split. Methods: Interviews were performed at 12 pharmacies across Sweden with pharmacy customers who had prescriptions with a dosage meaning that the tablets have to be divided to give the prescribed individual dose. Key findings: Of the 436 pharmacy customers interviewed, 255 (58.5%) reported they divided the tablets without tools and 162 (37.2%) used tools, the most common was a knife. Only few used a tablet splitter. Almost every third patient (31.4%) stated they had problems to divide the tablets. Conclusions: Patients’ difficulties in splitting tablets are common, but seem to be overlooked. Pharmacists should be permitted to adjust dispensing to a strength corresponding to the prescribed dosage level, price policies with flat prices need to be revised to eliminate economic incentives to prescribe dosages with split tablets and a computerised decision support should be developed signalling when there is a suitable strength for the prescribed individual dose.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Linn?us University, Kalmar, Sweden

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