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Patients' use and perception of medication information leaflets
Joseph P Nathan1, Tina Zerilli, Lorraine A Cicero
1Division of Pharmacy Practice, Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. joseph.nathan@liu.edu
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
|April 5, 2007
Summary
Most patients find medication leaflets useful and easy to understand. Pharmacists should encourage reading these leaflets, but they do not replace verbal counseling.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy practice
- Patient education
- Medication adherence
Background:
- Federal law requires 95% of patients receive written medication information.
- Current data on patient leaflet readership is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess patient readership of non-manufacturer-developed medication leaflets.
- To evaluate patient perceptions of leaflet understandability and usefulness.
Main Methods:
- Survey conducted at 32 community pharmacies in the New York City metropolitan area.
- Assessed leaflet reading frequency for new and refilled prescriptions.
- Collected patient opinions on leaflet understandability and usefulness.
Main Results:
- Nearly half of patients (49.2%) reported always reading leaflets for new medications.
- For refilled medications, only 21.6% reported always reading the leaflet.
- The majority of readers found leaflets easy to understand (90.7%) and useful (98.8%).
Conclusions:
- Most patients find medication leaflets valuable and easy to comprehend.
- Pharmacists should promote leaflet use as a supplementary resource.
- Leaflets should complement, not replace, pharmacist verbal counseling.
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