National Surveys of Prescription Medicine, Information Received by Consumers

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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National Surveys of Prescription Medicine, Information Received by Consumers

Table in Excel format

Percent of Consumers Told Selected Medicine Information at the Physician's Office/Pharmacy
	Physician's Office							Pharmacy
	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2004		1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2004
How much to take	55	59	61	63	62	64		28	32	36	34	34	29
How often to take	56	61	62	65	64	66		27	33	37	34	34	31
Refills	32	35	34	33	37	37		16	15	19	15	17	16
Precautions	33	35	37	37	36	37		18	25	26	24	24	21
Side Effects	29	33	37	35	35	35		11	19	23	23	20	17
Any Information¹	61	65	67	69	68	70		37	42	47	43	37	38
All Information²	n/a	n/a	26	24	24	26		n/a	n/a	14	14	12	6
¹ Any information means how much to take or how often to take or whether medicine can be refilled or precautions or side effects
² All information means how much to take and how often to take and precautions and side effects (does not include whether medicine can be refilled)

Percent of Consumers Who Asked for Information at the Physician's Office/Pharmacy
	Physician's Office							Pharmacy
	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2004		1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2004
How much to take	2	2	1	1	2	2		6	3	4	3	2	3
How often to take	2	1	2	1	1	1		5	3	4	3	3	3
Refills	5	2	4	3	3	4		6	3	4	3	4	3
Precautions	5	4	4	2	3	3		7	3	5	3	3	3
Side Effects	6	4	4	5	5	5		7	4	5	3	4	3

Percent of Consumers Who Were Given Written Information at the Physician's Office/Pharmacy³
		Physician's Office							Pharmacy
		1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2004		1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2004
Percent of All Respondents Given Written Information		14	15	16	16	15	21		32	59	71	74	74	77

Type of Information Received (of those who got written information)	Brochures	45	49	50	57	59	59		33	28	29	38	46	52
	Instruction Sheets	77	71	66	78	67	74		60	82	85	85	86	91
	Stickers on Medicine Container	n/a	na/	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a		74	78	78	83	83	83
³ These percentages do not reflect the quality or "usefulness" of the information, as no content analyses were performed.

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Date created: December 1, 2006



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