The “Pharmacokinetics” of Patient Communications

The safe and effective use of pharmaceuticals often depends on patients' understanding the drug's risks, benefits, and directions for use. This information is often communicated in printed materials. However, limits on the patient's willingness and ability to process this information make communications problematic. We review how patients process written information. We postulate that processing drug information is similar to drug pharmacokinetics. It is not the information presented to a patient that matters, rather it is the interaction of the patient with the materials that determines the nature and amount of information communicated.