The objective of this study was to evaluate patient knowledge of newly prescribed
medication after hospital discharge. We reviewed the charts of 172 patients who were
discharged from February 1, 2006, through April 25, 2006, from the internal medicine
residency service at a community-based teaching hospital with prescriptions for 1
or more new medications. Between 4 and 18 days after discharge, patients were contacted
by telephone and asked about the name, number, dosages, schedule, purpose, and adverse
effects of the new medication(s) and whether they could name their medical contact
person. We recorded the number of correct answers, patient age, and years of education.
Of the survey respondents, 86% were aware that they had been prescribed new medications,
but fewer could identify the name (64%) or number (74%) of new medications or their
dosages (56%), schedule (68%), or purpose (64%). Only 11% could recall being told
of any adverse effects, and only 22% could name at least 1 adverse effect. Older patients
tended to answer fewer questions correctly (P=.02). We observed no association between the number of correctly answered questions
and years of education (P=.57), time between discharge and survey (P=.17), or number of new medications (P=.65). Overall, we found that patients had limited knowledge about their medications
after discharge from an internal medicine residency service, with age but not years
of education significantly associated with level of knowledge.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Mayo Clinic ProceedingsAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
REFERENCES
- Healthy People 2010: Health communication. 2000:20. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Web site.(Accessed March 11, 2008.)
- Adult literacy in America: a first look at the findings of the National Adult Literacy Survey. 3rd ed. National Center for Education Statistics Web site.(Accessed March 11, 2008.)
- Kindig D Affonso D Chudler E Health Literacy: a Prescription to End Confusion. National Academies Press, Washington, DC2004 (Accessed March 12, 2008.)
- Health literacy and the risk of hospital admission.J Gen Intern Med. 1998; 13: 791-798
- Impact of health literacy on longitudinal asthma outcomes.J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 813-817
- Impact of health literacy on depressive symptoms and mental health-related quality of life among adults with addiction.J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 818-822
- Health literacy as a predictor of follow-up after an abnormal Pap smear: a prospective study.J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 829-834
- Views of practicing physicians and the public on medical errors.N Engl J Med. 2002; 347: 1933-1940
- Advancing the field of health literacy [editorial].J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 804-805https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1525-1497.2006.00568.x
- Health literacy: a national priority [editorial].J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 803https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00569.x
- Patients' understanding of their treatment plans and diagnosis at discharge.Mayo Clin Proc. 2005; 80: 991-994
- Health literacy among Medicare enrollees in a managed care organization.JAMA. 1999; 281: 545-551
- Patients' knowledge of medication care plans after hospital discharge.Am J Health Syst Pharm. 1998; 55: 1389-1393
- Literacy and misunderstanding prescription drug labels.Ann Intern Med. 2006 Dec 19; 145 (Epub 2006 Nov 29.): 887-894
- Patients' knowledge regarding medication therapy and the association with health services utilization.Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2006 Dec; 5 (Epub 2006 Jan 19.): 311-316
- Comprehensive discharge planning with postdischarge support for older patients with congestive heart failure: a meta-analysis.JAMA. 2004; 291: 1358-1367
- The impact of low health literacy on the medical costs of Medicare managed care enrollees.Am J Med. 2005; 118: 371-377
- Adverse drug events in ambulatory care.N Engl J Med. 2003; 348: 1556-1564
- Incidence and preventability of adverse drug events among older persons in the ambulatory setting.JAMA. 2003; 289: 1107-1116
- The incidence and severity of adverse events affecting patients after discharge from the hospital.Ann Intern Med. 2003; 138: 161-167
- Effect of communications training on medical student performance.JAMA. 2003; 290: 1157-1165
- Health Literacy Train-the-Trainer Program. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association Foundation, c1995-2006 [updated 2005 Jun 02].(Accessed April 14, 2008.)
- Use of a modified informed consent process among vulnerable patients: a descriptive study.J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 867-873
- Patient-physician communication at hospital discharge and patients' understanding of the postdischarge treatment plan.Arch Intern Med. 1997; 157: 1026-1030
- Low literacy impairs comprehension of prescription drug warning labels.J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21: 847-851
Article Info
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Medication Literacy Is a 2-Way StreetMayo Clinic ProceedingsVol. 83Issue 5
- PreviewEffective spoken and written communication of information about medicine to patients is crucial to the success of treatments. The effectiveness and safety of medicines cannot be maximized unless patients understand their role in the medicine-taking process. However, we generally communicate this information badly. Great effort and much time and money are devoted to the front end of developing medicines, but at the end of that process, when the medicine is actually handed over to patients, much is left to chance.
- Full-Text
- Preview
