Abstract:
Background: Bangladesh is one of the South Asian countries having different public health issues like child and maternal death, and outbreaks of communicable – noncommunicable diseases. The desideratum of this research is to investigate and analyze the influence of patient education pamphlets on public health in Bangladesh and to evaluate patient’s expectations, scope of development and provision of current practice of Patient Information Leaflets (PIL). Methods: The study is carried out using an online survey utilizing Google Form and through mass interviews conducted offline. A self-administered questionnaire prepared utilizing a questionnaire-based interview schedule. The entire study was built around a targeted questionnaire that was developed utilizing information from previous research on medicine information leaflets that had been done in various parts of the world as well as some general knowledge about medicine information leaflets. The questionnaire was prepared divided questions in four parts of Personal Information, Knowledge About Medicine Information Leaflet, Usability & Room for Improvement of Medicine Information Leaflet and Health Benefit. Results: Data was collected from 984 people of different ages, genders, demographic locations, education levels and occupation. Among them, 699 people know about it and 340 people read it regularly. Around 41% of people read it to learn about dose but 49% of people find it hard to understand. Although 59% of people admit PIL helps them a lot to understand the medication but 38% thought further improvement is needed. 23% of the population currently use digital media to gain information regarding medicine but 44% of the population prefer it over traditional media as 35% of the population thought digital media helps them to compare between brands. 38% of the population read PIL before buying a medicine but for 28% it influences on their buying decision. Conclusion: Patient Information leaflet makes a great impact on people's understanding of medicine and a more patient oriented leaflet can improve the overall public health scenario in Bangladesh.
