Project overview
Research question:
What are GPs views and experiences of prescribing potentially harmful medication to patients who are able to carry a pregnancy?
What do we know already?
Teratogenic medications are medications that can cause harm to a baby if they are taken in pregnancy. These medications are being prescribed more often to people of reproductive age who are able to carry a pregnancy. This problem is getting bigger as people are tending to have babies later in life. As people get older, they are more likely to need medication for a health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol. Some of these medications can be teratogenic. We currently don’t know when people who are able to carry a pregnancy would like to be told about possible pregnancy risks from medication. We also don’t know how people would like to receive this information and from who. We also don’t know if GPs are giving this information and if not, why not?
What would we like to find out?
We would firstly like to find out from GPs if they provide patients with information about the risks of using their medication during pregnancy. If they do not regularly do this, then we would like to find out what the barriers to doing this are and how we could make this easier.
How will we find this out?
We plan to approach GPs (approximately 20-25 people) for an interview to ask about the following:
• What do they understand about using teratogenic medications before, during and after pregnancy?
• Do they give this information to patients?
• If they do, when do they give this information and in what format? (verbally, paper, website)
• If they don’t, why do they think this is? Who do GPs think are responsible for giving this information?
• How could we make this process easier for GPs?
How will we involve patients and the public?
We will work with public contributors to develop the research application. Public contributors will help with designing interview questions. Particularly, we will invite public contributors to give their feedback on how we should ask sensitive questions. We will involve public contributors throughout the design stage, whilst the research is done and afterwards to help interpret our results and share them with others.
What will the impact of our results be?
We will use our results to find out how information about taking medications prior to, during and following pregnancy is given by GPs. We will inform research participants, patient groups, GPs and other regulatory bodies about our results. The knowledge we gain from this study will be used as preliminary work towards supporting both prescribers and patients help make better decisions about their medications and plans for pregnancy.
This project is funded by Elizabeth Lovegrove's NIHR In Practice Fellowship.
What are GPs views and experiences of prescribing potentially harmful medication to patients who are able to carry a pregnancy?
What do we know already?
Teratogenic medications are medications that can cause harm to a baby if they are taken in pregnancy. These medications are being prescribed more often to people of reproductive age who are able to carry a pregnancy. This problem is getting bigger as people are tending to have babies later in life. As people get older, they are more likely to need medication for a health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol. Some of these medications can be teratogenic. We currently don’t know when people who are able to carry a pregnancy would like to be told about possible pregnancy risks from medication. We also don’t know how people would like to receive this information and from who. We also don’t know if GPs are giving this information and if not, why not?
What would we like to find out?
We would firstly like to find out from GPs if they provide patients with information about the risks of using their medication during pregnancy. If they do not regularly do this, then we would like to find out what the barriers to doing this are and how we could make this easier.
How will we find this out?
We plan to approach GPs (approximately 20-25 people) for an interview to ask about the following:
• What do they understand about using teratogenic medications before, during and after pregnancy?
• Do they give this information to patients?
• If they do, when do they give this information and in what format? (verbally, paper, website)
• If they don’t, why do they think this is? Who do GPs think are responsible for giving this information?
• How could we make this process easier for GPs?
How will we involve patients and the public?
We will work with public contributors to develop the research application. Public contributors will help with designing interview questions. Particularly, we will invite public contributors to give their feedback on how we should ask sensitive questions. We will involve public contributors throughout the design stage, whilst the research is done and afterwards to help interpret our results and share them with others.
What will the impact of our results be?
We will use our results to find out how information about taking medications prior to, during and following pregnancy is given by GPs. We will inform research participants, patient groups, GPs and other regulatory bodies about our results. The knowledge we gain from this study will be used as preliminary work towards supporting both prescribers and patients help make better decisions about their medications and plans for pregnancy.
This project is funded by Elizabeth Lovegrove's NIHR In Practice Fellowship.
