Drug instructions should be easy for patients to read
2023-11-22
Recently, the topic of some drug instructions with too small font size has attracted social attention and heated discussion. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily found through investigation that many drug instructions have small and dense fonts. In order to understand key information such as drug usage, dosage, and adverse reactions, some middle-aged and elderly people have to use the magnifying function of their mobile phone cameras to read, and some have even bought magnifying glasses specifically. Some pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, indicate that the instructions require a lot of content to be written, and due to factors such as production costs, small font is chosen. In response, the procuratorial organs in Lianyungang, Jiangsu and Shanghai have filed public interest lawsuits and issued procuratorial suggestions to promote the aging transformation of relevant pharmaceutical company manuals. On the basis of not significantly increasing the cost of pharmaceutical companies, key information can be increased in font size or bold font, and even electronic manuals can be added. The content of the manual can be played with one click to facilitate patients' access to key information such as usage, dosage, and adverse reactions. The phenomenon is that middle-aged and elderly people use the magnifying function of their mobile phone cameras to read the drug instructions. Mr. Dai, 55 years old, recently needed to take some medication to relieve pain due to shoulder sleeve injury. After taking the medication from the hospital, he habitually looked at the drug information on the box, but the information on the box was not detailed enough. To understand the maximum dosage and adverse reactions, he needed to read the instructions. The font on some drug instructions is really too small and densely packed, and I can't see them clearly even with reading glasses. I can only turn on the camera of my phone and use the camera's zoom function to enlarge the words on the instructions four or five times to see them clearly. If only the font on the drug instructions could be a little larger. "Like Mr. Dai, Grandpa Pei, 75 years old this year, also has the same problem, He always reads the instructions before taking medication that he doesn't usually take. The dense and small characters make it difficult for me to read them clearly when I wear reading glasses. "In order to read the drug instructions clearly, Grandpa Pei sometimes uses a magnifying glass. After taking a new medication, the doctor often blurs my memory after returning home. Before taking the medication, I have to read the instructions. I bought this magnifying glass the year before last, and I prescribed many medications for chronic gastritis. I couldn't read the instructions clearly, so I bought one. Many drug instructions are as small as ants, making it difficult to read, not only for middle-aged and elderly people, Many young people have also roast on the Internet about such problems as "small and dense font of drug instructions" and "eyesore appearance". According to a search by a reporter from Beiqing Daily, the current "Regulations on the Administration of Drug Instructions and Labels" in China was formulated in 2006, which stipulates that drug instructions should include important scientific data, conclusions, and information on drug safety and efficacy, and should fully include information on adverse drug reactions. The text in the drug instructions and labels should be clear and distinguishable, and the markings should be clear and eye-catching. There should be no signs of printing detachment or weak adhesion, and no modifications or supplements should be made by pasting, cutting, or erasing. It has been 17 years since the establishment of the "Regulations on the Administration of Drug Instructions and Labels". There is a requirement for the text of the instructions to be "clear and easy to distinguish", but there is no specific standard for "clear and easy to distinguish", nor is there a clear regulation on the font size of the instructions. Investigating pharmaceutical companies: Taking into account factors such as production costs, why is it so common to choose small font for writing drug instructions? have
Edit：GuoGuo Responsible editor：FangZhiYou
Source：people.cnle
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