Consumer Medication Information: Similarities and Differences Between Three Canadian Pharmacies

Prescription medication use is prevalent. When a new prescription medication is dispensed, Consumer Medication Information (CMI) is provided to communicate various important aspects of the medication (e.g., benefits, administration instructions, potential side effects). However, CMI is not regulated and differs from pharmacy to pharmacy. This study explores the similarities and differences between the CMI from three pharmacies (two paper print outs and one online source) for a single medication. The three CMI were assessed in terms of readability and utility. This evaluation revealed drastic differences in the length of the CMI (Range = 453 to 2 337 words). The online CMI was longer, described more topics and provided more detail than the print versions. Although online CMI has the advantage of interactivity to expedite navigation to specific topics of interest (e.g., heading links) and searching for key words, this CMI was not layered but rather presented as one long continuous page. Consumers with lower eHealth literacy skills may be deterred by the length of the document. As CMI makes the shift to online presentation an improved understanding of optimal information organization and media presentation will be needed.