A low-literacy medication education tool for safety-net hospital patients.
BACKGROUND
To improve medication adherence in cardiac patients, in partnership with a safety-net provider, this research team developed and evaluated a low-literacy medication education tool.


METHODS
Using principles of community-based participatory research, the team developed a prototype of a low-literacy hospital discharge medication education tool, customizable for each patient, featuring instruction-specific icons and pictures of pills. In 2007, a randomized controlled clinical trial was performed, testing the tool's effect on posthospitalization self-reported medication adherence and knowledge, 2 weeks postdischarge in English- and Spanish-speaking safety-net inpatients. To validate the self-report measure, 4 weeks postdischarge, investigators collected self-reports of the number of pills remaining for each medication in a subsample of participants. Nurses rated tool acceptability.


RESULTS
Among the 166/210 eligible participants (79%) completing the Week-2 interview, self-reported medication adherence was 70% (95% CI=62%, 79%) in intervention participants and 78% (95% CI=72%, 84%) in controls (p=0.13). Among the 85 participants (31%) completing the Week-4 interview, self-reported pill counts indicated high adherence (greater than 90%) and did not differ between study arms. Self-reported adherence was correlated with self-reported pill count in intervention participants (R=0.5, p=0.004) but not in controls (R=0.07, p=0.65). There were no differences by study arm in medication knowledge. The nurses rated the tool as highly acceptable.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the evaluation did not demonstrate the tool to have any effect on self-reported medication adherence, patients who received the schedule self-reported their medication adherence more accurately, perhaps indicating improved understanding of their medication regimen and awareness of non-adherence.
Cordasco
Kristina M
KM
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Boulevard (111G), Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA. kcordasco@mednet.ucla.edu
Asch
Steven M
SM
Bell
Doug S
DS
Guterman
Jeffrey J
JJ
Gross-Schulman
Sandra
S
Ramer
Lois
L
Elkayam
Uri
U
Franco
Idalid
I
Leatherwood
Cianna L
CL
Mangione
Carol M
CM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*
D002317:Cardiovascular Agents