Evaluation of health literacy tools for correct prescription understanding

To evaluate two brief health literacy prediction tools for understanding of a prescription label and using a drug correctly.

Patients who visited the Family HealthCare Pharmacy were asked to complete the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM-R) and to interpret a prescription medication label. Each patient received a bottle of amoxicillin suspension with one of four prescription labels randomly varied in directions for frequency and amount. Patients were also asked to calculate the days' supply and demonstrate their ability to draw up the required dose using an oral syringe.

A total of 150 patients consented to participate. Only the NVS score was associated with ability to fully interpret the label correctly. Neither tool was related to ability to draw up the correct amount using an oral syringe but both had some correlation to successfully calculating the days' supply provided. The NVS and REALM-R literacy scores had a modest correlation with each other.

The NVS may be useful in predicting prescription label understanding and a patient's ability to do a simple dosage calculation. Neither the NVS nor the REALM-R correlated well with ability to draw an amount using an oral syringe correctly.