Pharmacy measures to improve medication use through health-literacy principles

Abstract

More than 90 million Americans have trouble understanding basic health information. Patients with inadequate health literacy encounter problems when trying to understand information related to medication. Consequently, this population has a greater chance of not using pharmaceuticals properly, resulting in poor clinical outcomes. Health care professionals, particularly pharmacists, should improve communication efforts with low-health literacy patients to achieve optimal results. This review examines the relationship between health literacy and medication use with the goals of helping the reader understand how to improve medication adherence and decrease adverse events from improper medication use.