Progress in studies oil effect of health literacy on medication safety / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To review and summarize the effect of health literacy on medication safety and the progress of recent studies. METHODS: Pubmed and Google were searched for related studies conducted in recent 20 years worldwide. The effect of health literacy on patient's medication understanding and medication behavior was reviewed. This paper also analyzed the current situation and future prospects of studies on health literacy in clinical practice in China. RESULTS: Patients with inadequate health literacy are less likely to understand medication information correctly and their actual medication practice is less likely to match their medication record in health care system. CONCLUSION: The assessment of health literacy can help pharmacists discriminate patients with different health literacy levels and predict patients' medication understanding and medication behavior, which is a useful tool to promote the efficiency of patient education and medication safety.