Medication Data Sheets— An Aid to Patient Education

The effect on patient knowledge of self-administration of medications was evaluated for verbal instruction versus verbal instruction reinforced with written Medication Data Sheets.

Significant improvement in self-administration was noted with the use of written reinforcement of the pharmacist's verbal explanations concerning the proper way to correct for a missed dose of the medication (p<0.0005), foods or drinks to avoid while taking the prescribed medication (p<0.05), understanding of the purpose for taking the medication (p<0.005), and whether or not the prescribed medication was refillable (p<0.0005).

In addition it was shown that informing patients in writing of the potential side effects of the medication did not increase the incidence of their occurrence (p = N.S.).