Drug Package Inserts
If you’ve ever taken a prescription drug, you are probably familiar with those paper inserts that come inside the package – although there’s a good chance you’ve never actually read every word on them - Cassie B
image by: Mary Anne Enriquez
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Who Reads Drug Package Inserts? It Ain't Us
Have you ever taken a close look at the spec sheet that accompanies the medication for any new prescription you may have picked up at your local pharmacy? Also referred to as a drug monograph, this takes the form of one or several printed pages informing you of the dangers, side effects, and contraindications of the pharmaceutical you are about inflict on your body and nervous system.
The first thing you should notice about these drug monographs is that they are impossible to read.
Resources
May cause drowsiness: how to make sense of drug instructions
A new report says the information sheets that accompany medication should be made simpler. In the meantime, here’s how get a handle on them.
Medication package inserts: Complete, accurate, and up-to-date
One medical dictionary cynically describes PI as “ hard-to-handle, and difficult to read package “stuffer” printed in Lilliputian type of Bible paper”. All stakeholders need to work to move PI s from cumbersome to a easy to refer, accurate, up-to-date, scientific reference tool to a medication that will lead to correct prescriptions benefiting the patients.
We need digital health package inserts
In the US the document is called "prescribing information" or the "package insert" (PI) and layperson's document is called the patient package insert (PPI). In Europe the technical document is called the "summary of product characteristics" (SmPC) and the document for end-users is called the "patient information leaflet" (PIL) or "package leaflet".
Drug information leaflets are 'impenetrable' and 'unreadable...
Drug leaflets should also include information on the benefits of taking a medicine, and not just a 'laundry list' of the potential harms...
Evaluation of quality and readability of over-the-counter medication package inserts
With an increasing number of patients using OTC medications for self-care,, the quality and readability evaluation of OTC package inserts become more critical.
How to Read a Package Insert
The information in a package insert is written in technical language. It is usually very long and can be difficult to understand. However, it is a good idea to look through it, because it lists important information about the drug.
Making Sense of Medication Package Inserts
It is not unusual to pick up a prescription and receive a very long and detailed medication package insert. After realizing how wordy and small the font is, you want to decide what the most important sections to read are.
Medicine information leaflets 'too scary', say experts
There is too much focus on the potential side-effects of medicines on information leaflets inside packs and not enough on their benefits, says the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Prescription drug insert sheets blasted as “unreadable” … they’re intentionally designed to obscure risks and side effects
The U.K.’s Academy of Medical Sciences recently slammed the pamphlets in a report, saying that patients find them “unreadable” and “impenetrable” and that they need to be made clearer to increase patient understanding.
Who Reads Drug Package Inserts? It Ain't Us
If the literature that comes with your newly prescribed medication hasn’t been alarming enough for you up to this point, the heading OVERDOSE is sure to put you over the top.
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