Objective To investigate how many patients, with five or more prescriptions in the Swedish National Prescription Repository (NPR) had received (1) the Medication List (ML) from the electronic medical record and (2) the Prescription List (PL) on prescriptions stored in the NPR and how these lists were used.

Methods Patients> 18 years of age, with five or more prescriptions stored electronically in the NPR, collecting medicines on prescription for themselves at nine pharmacies all around Sweden were interviewed about their knowledge of, and if they had received, the ML, the PL and/or the pharmacy record (PR) on medicines purchased on prescription during the last 15 months, and what documentation they used to track their current, prescribed treatment.

Key findings A total of 777 consensual patients (485 women) were interviewed. Of these, 32% were aware of the ML, but only 13% had received the MLat least once a year, and only 9% used the MLto track their current, prescribed medicines. Virtually all patients (99%) had received the PL at every pharmacy dispensing and 68% said they used the PL as documentation on their current, prescribed medicines. 52% used the dispensed packs to track their medication and 10% said they used a handwritten list. Only few patients were aware of the PR.

Conclusion Our study shows that patients’ access to information on their prescribed medicines is not in accordance with intentions in health care. The risk for errors in medicine use at home is substantial.