It is helpful for pharmaceutical companies to provide high quality patient information leaflets that explain exactly how the medication should be taken.
Medicines can be most effective when they are used properly. In the last few years, the onus has moved away from the health professional towards patients to take the responsibility for managing the use of their own medication. A good, well written and well produced patient's information leaflet can facilitate this.
A patient information leaflet is a legal requirement
In 1998 legislation was passed in the UK to ensure that an authorised patient information leaflet should be included with all medicines dispensed by a pharmacist under prescription, or bought over the counter. All pharmaceutical companies must write and design leaflets that comply with this legislation, that fit properly into the drug packaging and that are understood by the general population likely to use the drug.
Writing patient information leaflets
The words used to convey the information about a drug to a patient are crucial in a patient information leaflet. The starting point is always good, plain English copy, written using direct, short sentences with as few complex phrases and 'jargon' words as possible. Different versions of the leaflet should be made available in different languages for the UK multi-cultural audience if possible.
Designing a good patient information leaflet
A recent study on what makes a good patient information leaflet was conducted by Cheryl Twomey, Electronic Projects Librarian at the London Library. Her conclusions suggest some good practice guidelines that should be followed when designing a patient information leaflet:
* Size: smaller A5 leaflets are more convenient for packaging and then a pocket or handbag.
* Paper quality: the text should not show through from one side of the paper to another - this makes the patient information very difficult to read. Similarly, glossy paper should be avoided.
* Good design: A good layout, with plenty of white space and clear headings, with clearly separated columns is ideal to help readability.
* Typeface: the type on the patient information leaflet should be in a conventional, easy-to-read typeface, not smaller than 12 point, in lower case rather than upper case and with good line spacing so that text does not look 'crowded'.
* Black on white: black text on a white background is easiest to read but one extra colour for headings is good. Yellow should be avoided at all costs.
* Good headings: these help break up the text in the patient information leaflet. Numbered headings, bullet points and bold or boxed text are also good features.
* Space around diagrams: if illustrations are included, text should never be printed over the top of them, and a good space should be left around them.
* Line length: Text within the patient information leaflet should be in lines of around 8 to 11 words, not too short and not too long, with unjustified right hand margins without word hyphenation to aid reading.
How do the patient information leaflets that you have read recently measure up?
Author Resource:-
Do you know exactly how you are supposed to use the medication you have been prescribed? Easy to understand patient information leaflets are legal requirement. You can find lots more information about patient information leaflets at http://www.rosemontpharma.com/education
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