Patients’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Patient information Leaflet (PIL)

Background: Patient-tested and -friendly information leaflets provide sufficient, accurate, and
pertinent information about prescribed and over-the-counter medications to health consumers for their
safety, enhanced satisfaction, improved outcomes and no medication errors across the globe.
However healthcare consumers’ knowledge, attitude, behaviour and perception concerning different
items of drug leaflets differ across the board.
Objective: This study aimed to explore knowledge, attitude, behaviour and perception of patients
towards drug/patient information leaflets in Riyadh, capital city of Saudi Arabia. Methods: This crosssectional
study used a self-designed reliable questionnaire for collecting relevant data about drug
leaflets from purposefully selected participants (n=319) attending ambulatory clinics of a main hospital
of King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh.
Results: The majority of patients were females (75%), 61% patients were between the ages of 20 to
30 years, and 58% of the participants were educated to university level. About 61% to 97% of
participants agreed to knowledge, attitude and behaviour items, and only 26% patients perceived that
the drug information provided by healthcare professionals suffices on its own without the drug leaflets.
About 62% of the participants observed that the information in the drug leaflet is more useful than the
information given verbally by healthcare professionals. The majority of patients (66% to 99%)
expressed variably positive behaviour and favourable attitudes toward drug leaflet information. The
participants ranked ‘indications’ (31.4%) and ‘how to use’ (26.7%) drugs as the two most important
sections in drug leaflet.
Conclusion: Drug leaflets are important sources of drug information both for patients and general
public globally and improve their knowledge as well as positive effects on their attitude, perception
and behaviour. Healthcare professionals need to encourage health consumers to read the drug
leaflets which need to be patient-friendly and be written clearly in understandable lay terminology and
native language. Future studies should explore and compare the knowledge base of those patients
who read patient information leaflet (PIL) with those who do not read it across Arabian Gulf countries.