MEDICATION DATA SHEETS — an aid to patient education

The effect on patient knowledge of self-administra-tion of medications was evaluated for verbal in-struction 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 med-ication (p<0.005), and whether or not the pre-scribed medication was refillable (p<0.0005). In addition it was shown that informing patients in writing of the potential side effects of the medi-cation did not increase the incidence of their oc-currence (p = N.S.). PATRICK THOMAS PAULSON, M. S C, R.Ph. was a candidate for the degree of Master of Science and a pharmacy resi