Physicians need to share info

Physicians prescribing new medications often fail to communicate potential side effects, dosing instructions and the name of the drug to patients, a study by University of California-Los Angeles researchers finds. The study, published in the Sept. 25 Archives of Internal Medicine, reports that 62% of necessary information was conveyed based on a survey of patients from two Sacramento healthcare systems. "More research is needed to investigate how much time physicians spend educating patients about new medications and whether better communication is associated with more appropriate medication use and health outcomes," the article says...