"Medical information leaflets need to be simplified '

Research by TNS NIPO showed that 43 percent of all Dutch drug users struggling to decipher the leaflet. The content is usually written in complex academic language and the required information is hard to find. "Readers get lost in the details," said Grassi. "The medication requirements are so complicated that users do not sufficiently understand the information."

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Concepts that are discussed frequently example according to Grassi include polypharmacy, multidisciplinary guideline and pharmacotherapy compass.

A test that Metro held among its readers, it appears that most of the participants could not fathom this kind words. "My giro of health insurance is better than reading a leaflet pill", Houttuin Arnold writes on the Facebook page of Metro.

The call for a more user-friendly leaflet has long been underway. Communicatieadviesbureau Bureau Language has developed a new, simpler leaflet in 2007.

The survey found that 85 percent of participants thought understandable the new document, compared to 56 percent in the original package insert. The reading time decreased significantly. "Adherence is a major issue in health care," said Wessel Visser Bureau Language. "Comprehensive information prevents people from doing wrong things with their medication. Which contributes to a reduction in healthcare costs. "

Grassi adds: "The medical leaflet is the only official document which provides a user of drugs written information, although medications contain less than 10 percent of the cost."

RULES

In the Netherlands it is legally required that the packaging of a product contains a leaflet. This leaflet must meet certain Dutch and European legislation: the Medicines (EC), for example, states that a leaflet must be clearly legible and understandable. Both the medication if the leaflet is then reviewed by the Board Medicines Evaluation. "We do our best to make it as closely as possible to respond," said a spokesman.

A spokesman for the KNMP, professional and trade association of Dutch pharmacists, the legislation is that the lyrics are not always patient friendly. "Some pharmacists in addition to regular leaflet therefore give extra information form with which the content will be served to understand," said the spokesman. "In addition, we serve users in a different way, such as the websites Apotheek.nl and Apo.nl. Here they will find all information about medicines available in the Netherlands and leaflets through icons easier. "

Source:  http://www.metronieuws.nl/  door Els Anker/ Foto: ANP: Lex van Lieshout