Improving Patient Understanding of Prescription Drug Label Instructions

Background Patient misunderstanding of instructions on prescription drug labels is common and a likely cause of medication error and less effective treatment. Objective To test whether the use of more explicit language to describe dose and frequency of use for prescribed drugs could improve comprehe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM 2009-01, Vol.24 (1), p.57-62
Main Authors: Davis, Terry C., Federman, Alex D., Bass, Pat F., Jackson, Robert H., Middlebrooks, Mark, Parker, Ruth M., Wolf, Michael S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ambulatory Care - methods
Ambulatory Care - standards
Biological and medical sciences
Comprehension
Cross-Sectional Studies
Descriptive labeling
Drug Labeling - methods
Drug Labeling - standards
Drug Labeling - trends
Drug therapy
Female
General aspects
Health education
Humans
Internal Medicine
Literacy
Male
Medical sciences
Medication Errors - prevention & control
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Original
Original Article
Patient Education as Topic - methods
Patient Education as Topic - standards
Patient safety
Prescription drugs
Prescription Drugs - standards
Young Adult
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Summary:Background Patient misunderstanding of instructions on prescription drug labels is common and a likely cause of medication error and less effective treatment. Objective To test whether the use of more explicit language to describe dose and frequency of use for prescribed drugs could improve comprehension, especially among patients with limited literacy. Design Cross-sectional study using in-person, structured interviews. Patients Three hundred and fifty-nine adults waiting for an appointment in two hospital-based primary care clinics and one federally qualified health center in Shreveport, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; and New York, New York, respectively. Measurement Correct understanding of each of ten label instructions as determined by a blinded panel review of patients’ verbatim responses. Results Patient understanding of prescription label instructions ranged from 53% for the least understood to 89% for the most commonly understood label. Patients were significantly more likely to understand instructions with explicit times periods (i.e., morning) or precise times of day compared to instructions stating times per day (i.e., twice) or hourly intervals (89%, 77%, 61%, and 53%, respectively, p 
ISSN:0884-8734
1525-1497
DOI:10.1007/s11606-008-0833-4