Patients who can repeat instructions on how to take medicines may not
interpret them correctly
Many patients who can apparently understand instructions on medicine
labels are unable to interpret those instructions appropriately, a US
study published
online has shown (29 November 2006).
Researchers showed five medicine labels to 395 patients attending a primary
care clinic and asked them how they would take each medicine. A third
of those able to read the instruction “take two tablets by mouth
twice daily” were unable to correctly demonstrate the number of
tablets to take each day. This rose to over a half among those with low
literacy skills.
This suggests, the authors argue, that the “teach back” technique,
where patients are asked to repeat back instructions to demonstrate their
understanding, may be inadequate for identifying potential errors in
medication administration. “Medication review needs to verify that
patients, or their surrogates, can accurately describe and demonstrate
how to take medications safely,” they say.
Almost half (46.3 per cent) of the patients misunderstood one or more
of the prescription label instructions and the authors suggest that patients
of all ages would benefit from additional efforts to improve the clarity
and comprehensibility of labelling on prescription drugs.
“The text and format of existing primary and auxiliary labels on
prescription medication containers should be redesigned and standardised,” they
say. “Less complex and more explicit dosing instructions may ultimately
improve patient understanding; however, more research is needed to properly
evaluate different instructional formats.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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