Purpose: Prescription medication compliance is an essential component of optimal secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Inadequate knowledge of prescribed medications can adversely affect compliance. We sought to assess the level of medication knowledge and measure the change in knowledge in a group of individuals with known cardiovascular disease participating in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.
Methods: A total of 88 participants (53 men and 35 women) were interviewed by their nurse case manager at the outset of cardiac rehabilitation and immediately prior to their discharge. Particular attention was given to prescribed nitroglycerine, antiplatelet, and statin therapy with regard to purpose and basic precautions. Individualized written and verbal instructions were provided by the nurse case manager to each participant. Chi-square tests were used to determine intra- and between-group differences.
Results: At baseline, men and women were similar in age (63.8 +/- 11.5 years, 67.7 +/- 10.5 years), education (13.7 +/- 2.6 years, 12.7 +/- 2.4 years), and number of prescribed medications (7.2 +/- 2.5, 8.2 +/- 3.2). When nitroglycerine use was investigated, 32% of men and 34% of women could not describe the action to take if their first dose of nitroglycerine was unsuccessful in relieving their symptoms. At follow-up, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge of this measure (P < .001, P < .001). When antiplatelet knowledge was assessed, 40% of men and 48% of women could not identify the basic precautions. Following individualized antiplatelet education, both men (P < .001) and women (P < .001) demonstrated significant improvements in precaution knowledge. Lastly, 56% of both men and women could not describe the basic precautions of their statin therapy. Once again, significant improvements in knowledge were observed for both groups at follow-up (P < .001, P < .025).
Conclusions: Many individuals with cardiovascular disease participating in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation have deficiencies in knowledge of several of their commonly prescribed medications. A combination of individualized written and verbal instructions is successful in improving knowledge of the use and basic precautions of these medications. These instructions are easily delivered via outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.