Evaluation of Aspirin use in patients admitted to the family medicine outpatient clinic

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of Aspirin and to raise awareness on the subject in patients. Materials and Methods: Patients admitted to the Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic, University of Health Sciences Antalya Training and Research Hospital, and who have used Aspirin at least once in their life were included in the study. The reasons for using Aspirin were questioned to the patients. Patients were seperated into two groups, use of Aspirin with the physicians' recommendation and use of Aspirin without the physician's recommendation. Patients were questioned about their clinical characters and Aspirin use and their responds were recorded. Results: Of all the patients, 68,9% of them were female and %31,1 were male. The mean age was 54,3 +/- 1,3 (19-81) years. 69 (57.99%) of patients were taking Aspirin with the physicians' recommendation and 50 (42.01%) patients were taking Aspirin without a physician's recommendation. In the group which take Aspirin without a physician's recommendation, only 13 patients (26%) were using Aspirin correctly. 44 (37%) of the patients stated that they had read the prospectus. In the group which using Aspirin with the physician's recommendation, the rate of information of patients by the physician was 37.7% (26 patients). Conclusion: Use of Aspirin, which is not suitable for the indication, is very common in patients used Aspirin without a physician's recommendation. Raising awareness on using Aspirin without a physician's recommendation can make a positive contribution to reduce the risks.