Medication Adherence, Medication Errors
Conditions
Keywords
Health literacy, Patient education
Brief summary
Almost half of all US adults have trouble understanding and using health information, or low health literacy. Health literacy is considered to be an important patient safety issue, and has been linked to poor medication management. Low health literacy is a risk factor for parent errors in administering medications to their children; difficulty understanding provider medication instructions is likely to contribute to errors. To address these issues, bilingual (English/Spanish), low literacy, picture-based medication instruction sheets were developed. This study will look at the effectiveness and feasibility of the medication instruction sheet-based intervention as it is used by providers in 2 pediatric emergency department settings, as part of a planned roll out of HELPix within the hospital system. The investigators hypothesize that there will be reduced medication dosing errors, improved medication adherence, reduced hospital revisit rates, and improved provider-parent communication. The investigators also hypothesize that provider technology experience, knowledge, and attitudes, will affect the extent to which providers use the tool.
Interventions
OTHERHELPix
Low literacy, bilingual (English/Spanish) medication instruction sheets used as a framework for provider medication counseling, plus provider dose demonstration, parent teachback/showback, provider medication log review, provision of oral dosing syringe to parent
Sponsors
New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
NYU Langone Health
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Parent Inclusion Criteria: * child \<=8 years * child prescribed a daily dose short course (\<14 day) liquid medication Parent
Exclusion criteria
* caregiver not legal guardian of child * caregiver non-English/ Spanish language * caregiver residency outside of New York City * hospital admission of child * child with psychiatric or child protection-related issue * no listed phone number for caregiver * person reached by phone not person counseled in the emergency department * no eligible medication prescribed
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Medication dosing error (observed) | within 8 weeks of the end date of prescribed course of medication | Dosing error defined as \>20% deviation from prescribed dose |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed