Literacy Medication Labels

Literacy and Misunderstanding Prescription Drug Labels

Results: Correct understanding of the 5 labels ranged from 67.1% to 91.1%. Patients reading at or below the sixth-grade level (low literacy) were less able to understand all 5 label instructions. Although 70.7% of patients with low literacy correctly stated the instructions, “Take two tablets by mouth twice daily,” only 34.7% could demonstrate the number of pills to be taken daily. After potent...

Literacy and misunderstanding prescription drug labels.

BACKGROUND Health literacy has increasingly been viewed as a patient safety issue and may contribute to medication errors. OBJECTIVE To examine patients' abilities to understand and demonstrate instructions found on container labels of common prescription medications. DESIGN Cross-sectional study using in-person, structured interviews. SETTING 3 primary care clinics serving mostly indigen...

Medication Literacy: Why Pharmacists Should Pay Attention.

The variability and quality of medication container labels.

BACKGROUND Medication errors occur frequently, and poor medication labeling is cited as a potential cause. We assessed the format, content, and variability of prescription drug container labels dispensed in the community. METHODS Identically written prescriptions for 4 commonly used medications (atorvastatin calcium [Lipitor], alendronate sodium [Fosamax], trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole [Bactr...

Intervening at the Intersection of Medication Adherence and Health Literacy

Medications play a prominent role in the treatment of many illnesses. Failing to adhere to prescribed medication regimens contributes to an array of poor health outcomes. In addition to the cost in terms of human suffering, the financial cost of medication nonadherence is staggering. Poor health literacy has been identified as a major cause of medication nonadherence. This paper focuses on nona...