Abstract
Prescriptions containing ophthalmic medications were investigated and actual use of them by outpatients was surveyed through questionnaire. Ophthalmic medications were prescribed in 88 percent of prescriptions for ophthalmic outpatients. And about half of them were under concomitant therapy more than two kinds of ophthalmic medications. There were a large number of prescriptions which did not state how often they should instill the drugs each day. There were 113 cases (more than 10 percent of prescriptions containing more than two kinds of ophthal mic medications) which were considered possibly incompatible when instilled at the same time.
A total of 255 questionnaires were recovered. Drop number instilled each application each eye was: 1 drop (40%), 2 drops (44%), 3 drops (15%). Most patients (85%) were directed how many times they should instill each day. More than a half of patients instill an ophthalmic medication right after the other kind of one. These findings indicate a great need of educating patients who received several concomitantly administered eye drops to have a proper time spacing of instillations.
