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Derjung M. Tarn, MD, PhD; John Heritage, PhD; Neil S. Wenger, MD, MPH

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Aladesanmi raises important aspects of physician-patient communication that were not central to our study of new medication information transfer. We agree that eliciting the patient's perspective and assessing patient understanding are critical to effective communication about complex clinical topics such as new medication. In our study of 185 patients prescribed 244 new medications, only 1 physician attempted to assess patient understanding about the newly prescribed medication. This physician asked "Now, do you understand all of this stuff?" and "Does it make sense to you?" but did not ask the patient to repeat the instructions, a technique that helps patients to retain information.¹

As noted, patients in this study were mostly college educated and white. Patients with greater literacy are more likely to understand prescription drug labels compared with those with low literacy.² Since patients with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED LETTER

Medication Adherence and Physician Communication Skills
Oluranti Aladesanmi
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(8):859-860.
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