Quality assessment of structure and language elements of written responses given by seven Scandinavian drug information centres.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to identify structure and language elements affecting the quality of responses from Scandinavian drug information centres (DICs).


METHODS
Six different fictitious drug-related queries were sent to each of seven Scandinavian DICs. The centres were blinded for which queries were part of the study. The responses were assessed qualitatively by six clinical pharmacologists (internal experts) and six general practitioners (GPs, external experts). In addition, linguistic aspects of the responses were evaluated by a plain language expert.


RESULTS
The quality of responses was generally judged as satisfactory to good. Presenting specific advice and conclusions were considered to improve the quality of the responses. However, small nuances in language formulations could affect the individual judgments of the experts, e.g. on whether or not advice was given. Some experts preferred the use of primary sources to the use of secondary and tertiary sources. Both internal and external experts criticised the use of abbreviations, professional terminology and study findings that was left unexplained. The plain language expert emphasised the importance of defining and explaining pharmacological terms to ensure that enquirers understand the response as intended. In addition, more use of active voice and less compressed text structure would be desirable.


CONCLUSIONS
This evaluation of responses to DIC queries may give some indications on how to improve written responses on drug-related queries with respect to language and text structure. Giving specific advice and precise conclusions and avoiding too compressed language and non-standard abbreviations may aid to reach this goal.
Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Nord University, Namsos, Norway. linda.a.reppe@nord.no.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. linda.a.reppe@nord.no.|Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centre (RELIS Midt-Norge), Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. linda.a.reppe@nord.no.
Linda Amundstuen
LA
Reppe
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.|Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centre (RELIS Midt-Norge), Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
Olav
O
Spigset
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jens Peter
JP
Kampmann
Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
Per
P
Damkier
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Hanne Rolighed
HR
Christensen
Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Drug Research, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Ylva
Y
Böttiger
Section of Clinical Pharmacology, Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.|Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.|Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centre (RELIS Vest), Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
Jan
J
Schjøtt
D004346:Drug Information Services; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
Drug information services; Health care; Information literacy; Quality assurance