Improving prescription auxiliary labels to increase patient understanding

To develop new, easy-to-understand prescription auxiliary labels, assess patient understanding of both new and existing labels, and compare the effectiveness of existing labels with the newly developed ones.

Cross-sectional study.

Semistructured interviews.

Convenience sample of adults from minority populations who were currently taking or had previously taken a prescription medication and could understand English.

Easy-to-understand prescription auxiliary labels were developed. Both these newly created labels and existing labels were shown to participants. Participants' health literacy levels and understanding of the information provided on the labels were determined. The reading difficulty of the auxiliary labels was determined using a Lexile Score.

Interpretation and understanding of prescription auxiliary labels.

The study included 120 participants with a mean age of 40 years (SD = 14). All existing prescription auxiliary labels yielded less than 50% "excellent" interpretations except for those indicating "Take with food" and "Do not chew or crush." The newly designed labels were better understood compared with existing labels. Some existing labels yielded Lexile scores above the sixth-grade reading level. There was an association between higher levels of education (χ2 = 20.86, P = 0.02) or higher REALM-R (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, Revised) scores (χ2 = 26.79, P = 0.02) and better interpretation of auxiliary labels.

Simpler auxiliary labels with improved patient comprehension can be developed. Auxiliary label understanding and interpretation is low for commonly used labels. Pharmacies should consider using existing manufacturer auxiliary labels that meet the criteria for patients with low literacy.