Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
To assist patients in making informed decisions regarding medications, current methods of providing and acquiring information are either attained though patient counseling by pharmacists, or communicated via a multitude of media sources.
Point-of-sale (POS) mechanisms and advertorials often communicate outcomes of 'clinical trials', either promoting the benefits of a particular medicines, or warnings about use. In contrast, pharmacists rely on their extensive clincial knowledge to impart information to patients.
Some studies have shown that when pharmacists discuss side effects and management strategies, the information is often subjective, vague or simply verbal descriptors of frequency, which may inhibit accurate risk assessment by patients. Additionally, pharmacists focused on safety aspects of using medications and spent far less time discussing potential therapeutic benefits. Patient decision making regarding medication may be affected by how pharmacists communicate such benefits and risks, meriting further investigation into patients’ interpretations of information received.
This research examines whether 'clinical trials' or 'pharmacist advice' has a stronger influence on health consumers' decision making.
This VRES Project involves the construction of a detailed literature review.
- Study level
- Honours, Vacation research experience scholarship
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
QUT Business School
- Research area
- Keywords
- pharmacy, consumer trust, decision making
- Contact
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Please contact the supervisor.
Dr Gary Mortimer
