Lee A. Lindquist|Lise Go|Jori Fleisher|Nelia Jain|Elisha M. Friesema|David W. Baker
Relationship of Health Literacy to Intentional and Unintentional Non-Adherence of Hospital Discharge Medications
Northwestern University|Northwestern University|Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania|Northwestern University|Northwestern University|Northwestern University
inadequate health literacy prevalent among seniors associated poor health outcomes hospital discharge medications frequently changed patients informed changes via discharge instructionsexplore association health literacy medication discrepancies 48 hours hospital discharge determine causes discharge medication discrepanciesfacetoface surveys assessing health literacy hospital discharge using short form test functional health literacy adults stofhla obtained medication lists written discharge instructions 48 hrs postdischarge phoned subjects assess current medication regimen medication discrepancies causes discrepanciestwo hundred fiftyfour communitydwelling seniors 70 years admitted acute medicine services 24 hours urban hospitalof 254 seniors mean age 793 yrs 531 female 142 56 medication discrepancy discharge instructions actual home medication use 48 hrs discharge subjects inadequate marginal health literacy significantly likely unintentional nonadherencemeaning subject understand take medication inadequate health literacy 477 vs marginal 318 vs adequate 205 p 0002 conversely adequate health literacy significantly likely intentional nonadherencemeaning subject understood instructions chose follow reason medications discrepancy compared marginal inadequate health literacy adequate 733 vs marginal 111 vs inadequate 156 p 0001 another common cause discrepancies inaccurate discharge instructions 393seniors adequate health literacy inclined purposefully adhere discharge instructions seniors inadequate health literacy likely err due misunderstanding discharge instructions together results may explain previous studies shown lack association health literacy overall medication discrepancies