Abstract Background: Medication misunderstanding related to limited health literacy is common in rural and resource-limited settings and contributes to poor adherence and preventable healthcare utilisation. Patients unable to read prescriptions often rely entirely on verbal counselling, which may be insufficient when multiple medicines with different dosing schedules are prescribed. Aim and Objectives: To evaluate whether a simple colour-coded visual medication instruction system improves medication understanding among illiterate patients attending a rural district hospital. Materials and Methods: This prospective multi-cycle clinical audit was conducted at a government district hospital in rural India. Adult patients unable to read prescriptions or medicine labels and prescribed at least one oral medication were included. Baseline medication understanding was assessed after routine verbal counselling. A colour-coded visual instruction system using dots and symbols indicating dosing frequency, time of administration, and relation to meals was then introduced. Medication understanding was reassessed after implementation and during a planned re-audit cycle. Results: At baseline, correct recall of medication dose, frequency, and timing was observed in 24% of patients. Following implementation of the visual instruction system, correct recall increased to 76%. During the re-audit cycle, recall remained high at 70%, indicating sustained improvement. Conclusion: A simple colour-coded visual instruction system can improve medication understanding among illiterate patients and is feasible for routine use in resource-limited outpatient settings.
Kesharwani et al. (Thu,) studied this question.