Abstract
PurposeThe aim of this study was to identify structure and language elements affecting the quality of responses from Scandinavian drug information centres (DICs).MethodsSix different fictitious drug-related queries were sent to each of seven Scandinavian DICs. The centres were blinded for which queries were part of the study. The responses were assessed qualitatively by six clinical pharmacologists (internal experts) and six general practitioners (GPs, external experts). In addition, linguistic aspects of the responses were evaluated by a plain language expert.ResultsThe quality of responses was generally judged as satisfactory to good. Presenting specific advice and conclusions were considered to improve the quality of the responses. However, small nuances in language formulations could affect the individual judgments of the experts, e.g. on whether or not advice was given. Some experts preferred the use of primary sources to the use of secondary and tertiary sources. Both internal and external experts criticised the use of abbreviations, professional terminology and study findings that was left unexplained. The plain language expert emphasised the importance of defining and explaining pharmacological terms to ensure that enquirers understand the response as intended. In addition, more use of active voice and less compressed text structure would be desirable.ConclusionsThis evaluation of responses to DIC queries may give some indications on how to improve written responses on drug-related queries with respect to language and text structure. Giving specific advice and precise conclusions and avoiding too compressed language and non-standard abbreviations may aid to reach this goal.
Highlights
To promote rational use of medicines, drug information centres (DICs) give advice on therapeutic drugs in response to queries by health care professionals
The Scandinavian DICs are regional centres affiliated with units of clinical pharmacology at university hospitals
To be able to use a response from a DIC in patient treatment, it is essential that the enquirer has the ability to read and understand both the language, content and specific data presented in the response, i.e. has knowledge in drug information literacy [6] and numeracy [7], respectively
Summary
To promote rational use of medicines, drug information centres (DICs) give advice on therapeutic drugs in response to queries by health care professionals. To be able to use a response from a DIC in patient treatment, it is essential that the enquirer has the ability to read and understand both the language, content and specific data (e.g. numeric study results) presented in the response, i.e. has knowledge in drug information literacy [6] and numeracy [7], respectively. These issues have been extensively studied in the context of consumer information but may apply for information given to health care professionals [8]. A qualitative study of the German Summary of Product Characteristics (SPCs) concluded that physicians found them disorganised and difficult to use [9]
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