Literacy advocates call for drug label uniformity

The central questions include what such a label should look like and whether it will lead to better health outcomes.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Nov. 19, 2007.

Patients frequently confront difficulties finding the information they need on prescription drug labels. The resulting misunderstandings can make it more likely a drug will be taken incorrectly. For these reasons, physicians and other advocates for improved health literacy are contemplating the standardization of medication labels.

This concept was among the suggestions included in a white paper on the subject published last month by the American College of Physicians Foundation. An Institute of Medicine Health Literacy Roundtable also met to discuss the idea.

"There is just so much variation, and there's general agreement that it is to the detriment of patients," said Cindy Brach, senior health policy researcher at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She represented the agency at the IOM meeting.

But while growing agreement exists regarding the need for a uniform prescription drug label format, it's unclear what information should be included and how it would be presented. Related research is ongoing, and physicians said it would be necessary to demonstrate how changes would facilitate improved comprehension and outcomes.

"We generally agree with the direction, but this is going to take further work," said William A. Dolan, MD, an American Medical Association trustee, who represented the organization at the IOM meeting. The AMA recognizes poor health literacy as a barrier to good medical care, although it does not have a position on standardizing drug labels. The AMA Foundation also has several health literacy programs.