What’s in a label? An exploratory study of patient-centered drug instructions

Objective To assess the efficacy of patient-centered label (PCL) instructions on the knowledge and comprehension of prescription drug use compared to standard instructions. Methods A total of 94 participants recruited from an outpatient clinic in Ireland were each randomly assigned to receive: (1) s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology Vol. 68; no. 5; pp. 777 - 782
Main Authors Sahm, Laura J., Wolf, M. S., Curtis, L. M., Behan, R., Brennan, M., Gallwey, H., Mc Carthy, S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.05.2012
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
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Summary:Objective To assess the efficacy of patient-centered label (PCL) instructions on the knowledge and comprehension of prescription drug use compared to standard instructions. Methods A total of 94 participants recruited from an outpatient clinic in Ireland were each randomly assigned to receive: (1) standard prescription instructions written as times per day (usual care), (2) PCL instructions that specify explicit timing with standard intervals (morning, noon, evening, bedtime) or with mealtime anchors (both PCL), or (3) PCL instructions with a graphic aid to visually depict dose and timing of the medication (PCL + Graphic). The outcome was correct interpretation of the instructions. Results PCL instructions were more likely to be correctly interpreted than the standard instructions [adjusted relative risk (RR) 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98–1.18]. The inclusion of the graphic aid (PCL + Graphic) decreased the rates of correct interpretation compared to PCL instructions alone (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.91–1.05). There was a significant interaction between instruction type and health literacy ( p  = 0.01). Those with limited health literacy were more likely to correctly interpret the PCL labels (91%) than the standard labels (66%), and those with adequate health literacy performed equally well. Conclusion The PCL approach may improve patients’ understanding and use of their medication regimen.
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ISSN:0031-6970
1432-1041
DOI:10.1007/s00228-011-1169-2