The Outpatient Prescription Label as a Source of Medication Errors

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Abstract
Patient interpretation of outpatient prescription label directions was studied by asking patients to state the times they planned to take their medications. A total of 451 medication schedules were recorded. The results showed that (1) directions on 48.8% of the prescriptions did not necessitate scheduling, (2) for 15.5%. of the directions, patients were unable to state an interpretation of the dosage schedule, and (3) interpretations of 33.3% of the directions varied greatly among patients. It is suggested that pharmacists take the responsibility for scheduling doses for outpatients whenever necessary, rather than leaving it up to the patient to interpret directions that may he ambiguous to him.

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