title: Expert and consumer evaluation of patient medication leaflets provided in U.S. pharmacies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate the distribution and quality of patient medication leaflets provided in U.S. pharmacies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational.
  
  
  METHODS
  United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  384 randomly selected community pharmacies in 44 states.
  
  
  METHODS
  Professional shoppers (acting as patients) presented four new prescriptions to study pharmacies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medication leaflets obtained by shoppers were evaluated by expert and consumer raters using criteria specified in federal law mandating distribution of useful written information to 95% of individuals receiving new prescriptions by 2006.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Leaflets were provided by pharmacies with 89% of 1,536 prescriptions presented by professional shoppers posing as patients. Leaflet quality varied: 95% of leaflets received high ratings on accuracy, but only 19% received high ratings on the specificity of directions. Fewer than 10% of all leaflets met quality criteria regarding contraindications, precautions, and how to avoid harm. One fourth of all leaflets had poor print size, according to the shoppers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Additional efforts are needed to meet federally mandated information distribution and quality goals by 2006.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 777 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53705, USA. blsvarstad@pharmacy.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Bonnie L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Svarstad
authors.forename: Jeanine K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Mount
authors.forename: Ellen R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Tabak
mesh_terms: D001262:Atenolol / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods*; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D010174:Pamphlets; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D001262:Atenolol