Background: One form of self-medication is sharing of medications, defined as borrowing or lending medications in situations where the receiver of these drugs is not the individual to whom the medications were allocated. Objective: To explore experiences and opinions of patients about sharing prescription analgesics, reasons for sharing prescription analgesics, the way in which patients choose to share those medications, their awareness of risk regarding sharing prescription analgesics, and how they estimated the potential risk. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted by focus group discussions with 40 participants led by a moderator trained in focus group methodology using a semi-structured moderator guide. Adults aged ≥18 years who had received a prescription for an analgesic at least once in a lifetime were included. Six separate focus groups were conducted to discuss participants’ perception of risks associated with sharing of prescription analgesics among patients. Additionally, participants filled out two questionnaires on demographic data, their own behavior regarding sharing analgesics, and their attitudes about risks associated with sharing prescription analgesics. Results: In a questionnaire, 55% of the participants indicated that they personally shared prescription analgesics, while subsequently in the focus group discussions, 76% confessed to such behavior. Participants recognized certain risks related to sharing of prescription analgesics, mentioned a number of reasons for engaging in such behavior, and indicated certain positive aspects of such behavior. Forty-five percent of the participants indicated that sharing prescription analgesics is riskier than sharing nonprescription analgesics. Conclusion: There is a prevalent attitude among participants that sharing prescription analgesics is a positive behavior, where potential benefits outweigh risks.

Background: Understanding and improving patient safety is a key issue in medicine. One of the potential threats to patient safety is the sharing of medication among patients, which is a form of self-medication. This study analyzed experiences and attitudes of pain management physicians (PMPs) about sharing prescription analgesics among patients. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted by semi-structured interviews among PMPs employed in Croatian pain clinics. The study involved two researchers and 15 PMPs. Results: Among PMPs, 80% have seen patients who share their prescription analgesics with other patients for whom prescription is not intended. Most PMPs consider prescription analgesics sharing a risky and negative behavior. Some of them, however, found certain positive aspects associated to it, such as being a benevolent behavior, helping patients to get medications when they need them, and helping them cope with pain. Conclusion: The majority of physicians specialized in pain management encountered patients sharing prescription analgesics. Most of them considered this as risky behavior with a number of potential consequences. It has been noted that this problem is neglected and that physicians should inquire about medication sharing. Direct-to-consumers advertising was perceived as a factor contributing to such behavior. Patient education and more involvement of physicians in identifying this behavior were cited as potential remedies for preventing sharing of prescription analgesics.

Introduction: This study aimed to analyze differences in sharing of prescription analgesics between rural and urban populations. Methods: We surveyed 1000 participants in outpatient family medicine settings in Croatia. We used a 35-item questionnaire to analyze patients’ characteristics, pain intensity, prescription analgesic sharing behavior, and perception of risks regarding sharing prescription medications. Results: Prescription analgesic sharing was significantly more frequent in the rural (64%) than in the urban population 55% (p = 0.01). Participants from rural areas more commonly asked for verbal or written information than those from urban areas when taking others’ prescription analgesics (p < 0.001) or giving such analgesics (p < 0.001). Participants from rural areas more commonly informed their physician about such behavior compared to those from urban areas (p < 0.01), and they were significantly more often asked about such behavior by their physician (p < 0.01). Perceptions about risks associated with sharing prescription medication were similar between rural and urban populations. Conclusions: There are systematic differences in the frequency of prescription analgesics and associated behaviors between patients in family medicine who live in rural and urban areas. Patients from rural areas were more prone to share prescription analgesics. Future studies should examine reasons for differences in sharing prescription analgesics between rural and urban areas.