The impact of a drug information sheet on the understanding and attitude of patients about drugs.

ABSTRACT

KIE: The educational value of drug information sheets was studied by the authors, who employed specially designed one-page medication sheets on digoxin and propranolol hydrochloride, on hospital patients and outpatients taking one or both drugs. Some patients were tested on their knowledge about their medications before and after reading the information sheets, some were tested only after reading the sheets, and some were tested and retested without access to the sheets. The scores of the patients who had read the sheets were higher than those of the patients who had not. The authors conclude that the sheets can yield a small but significant improvement in patients' understanding of the drugs they take, and that a drug information sheet "may be a useful adjunct" to a physician-initiated discussion about medication.