Creation of Pictograms Regarding Pharmacological Effects of Medicine: the Necessity and Evaluation of Created Pictograms

Abstract

Pictograms can be used to transmit information to anyone all over the world. In Japan, pictograms regarding interaction, usage, and dosage are developed by the RAD-AR Council Japan; however, pictograms indicating the pharmacological effect remain to be developed. In this study, we created seven kinds of pictograms regarding pharmacological effect: antiarrhythmic drugs, hypnotics, hypoglycemic drugs, antibiotics, diuretics, antihypertensive drugs, and antidementia drugs, and researched the necessity and evaluation of the created pictograms using a questionnaire survey for pharmacists and the general public. Overall, 89.6％ of the pharmacists and 86.8％ of the general public answered “necessary” regarding pictograms on pharmacological effects. Regarding the usefulness of these pictograms, pharmacists responded “understanding the efficacy of medicine” and “emergencies such as natural disasters.” On the other hand, the general public responded, “distinguish the medicine by myself” and “emergencies such as natural disasters.” The pharmacists had a significantly higher rate of giving correct answers than the general public for all pictograms. In the general public, the rates of correct answers for these pictograms decreased with age. However, the rates of correct answers for pictograms on diuretics and hypotensive drugs were > 90％ in the elderly aged ≥ 70 years. In conclusion, although the necessity for pictograms regarding pharmacological effects was proved, the correct answer rate differed significantly between the pharmacists and the general public. Therefore, it is necessary to improve these pictograms so that anyone can understand them more accurately, with or without medical knowledge.