Abstract
One of the preconditions for correct drug treatment is that outpatients must understand and obey the directions relating to use of drugs which are printed on drugs envelopes. Therefore, we conducted a number of surveys of outpatients to investigate the utility of pictograms in conveying drug information. In the surveys relating to the utility of pictgrams, 94% of patients said that pictogram display of information related to drug administration was easy to understand. However, with respect to drug usage directions, 95% of the patients thought that written information alone was sufficient.
In another survey which used different methods of information display (large letters, colored letters (red), pictograms, and pictograms combined with simple written information) to determine which was easiest to understand, 61.2% of the patients responded that pictograms combined with simple written information were easiest to understand. From these results, it was found that pictograms are an easy-to-understand way of conveying information about drugs, which suggests that they could be of value in providing patients with correct information about drug use.
