Sunil Kripalani

..In the period immediately following hospital discharge, patients often experience difficulty with medication management. The problems related to patients' handling of discharge prescriptions are not well characterized...

..However, few studies have tested strategies to encourage such discussions, particularly among high-risk populations. We examined the effects of two low-literacy interventions on the frequency of prostate cancer discussion and screening...

..This "prescription for cultural competence" is intended to promote an active and integrated approach to multicultural issues throughout medical school training...

..This article describes the development, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of an illustrated medication schedule (a "pill card") that depicts a patient's daily medication regimen using pill images and icons...

..The SEAMS is a reliable and valid instrument that may provide a valuable assessment of medication self-efficacy in chronic disease management, and appears appropriate for use in patients with low literacy skills...

..By understanding the key challenges and adopting strategies to improve patient care in the transition from hospital to home, hospitalists could significantly reduce medical errors in the postdischarge period...

..Delayed or inaccurate communication between hospital-based and primary care physicians at hospital discharge may negatively affect continuity of care and contribute to adverse events...

..Patients' ability to manage medications is critical to chronic disease control. Also known as medication management capacity (MMC), it includes the ability to correctly identify medications and describe how they should be taken...

..Approximately 20% to 50% of patients are not adherent to medical therapy. This review was performed to summarize, categorize, and estimate the effect size (ES) of interventions to improve medication adherence in chronic medical conditions...

..To compare evaluations of teaching effectiveness among hospitalist, general medicine, and subspecialist attendings on general medicine wards...

..To examine patients' use of medication management strategies (e.g., reminders, pill boxes), and to determine how their use influences the relationship between patient characteristics and medication adherence...

..Handoffs are ubiquitous to Hospital Medicine and are considered a vulnerable time for patient safety...

..They include preventable or ameliorable adverse drug events (ADEs), as well as medication discrepancies or nonadherence with high potential for future harm (potential ADEs)...

..Gender differences in cardiovascular prevention and treatment may be related to physicians' level of postgraduate training and gender...

..Patients' literacy level may affect their level of participation and question-asking behaviors...

..To evaluate the implementation of a health literacy intervention to improve medication adherence among patients in an inner-city health system...

..The factors influencing medication adherence have not been fully elucidated. Inadequate health literacy skills may impair comprehension of medical care instructions, and thereby reduce medication adherence...

..To describe the role of illustrated medication instructions in pharmacy practice, the evidence for their use, and our experience with their implementation...

..To describe methods for incorporating standardized patients into health literacy training programs...

..We analyzed patients' ratings of the quality of physician-patient communication during hospitalization and how this varies by health literacy...

..Over the past decade, handheld computers (or personal digital assistants [PDAs]) have become a popular tool among medical trainees and physicians. Few comprehensive reviews of PDA use in medicine have been published...

..Patients with inadequate health literacy skills may be less-active participants in their care and more likely to have paternalistic encounters...

..Optimizing postdischarge medication adherence is a target for avoiding adverse events. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on predictors of postdischarge medication adherence...

..14; or with adverse drug events at 1 year (48% vs. 33% vs. 40%; p = .30). Patients with lower health literacy have poorer medication knowledge but not lower adherence or increased adverse drug events...

..Up to 50 % of patients do not take medications as prescribed. Interventions to improve adherence are needed, with an understanding of which patients benefit most...

..Participant statements suggest family members may bridge the HIT "digital divide" in diabetes by helping adults access a PWP or HIT for diabetes management...

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..Limited health literacy is associated with poor understanding of medication instructions and may be related to medication adherence...

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..Patients expressed preference for illustrated medication instructions which could address several of the challenges raised by patients...

..By informing future hospitalists about the career opportunities within academic hospital medicine possible through managing their diastolic time, we hope that future generations of trainees will be better prepared to enter this field...

..Although hospitalist fellowships are still in evolution, they will play an important role in the development of hospital medicine...

..Low patient literacy is associated with poor medication adherence and health outcomes. However, little is known about how pharmacies address literacy-related needs among patrons...

..To better characterize medication-related problems among inner-city patients after hospital discharge and to suggest potential interventions...

..Low literacy is associated with poor self-management of disease and increased hospitalization, yet few studies have explored the extent to which physicians consider literacy in their patient care...

..CONCLUSION: The use of pictorial aids enhances patients' understanding of how they should take their medications, particularly when pictures are used in combination with written or oral instructions...

..If successful, the proposed research could serve as a model for other interventions to improve compliance and cardiovascular care, particularly among low-literate and underserved populations. ..

..Program costs will also be assessed. If successful, this intervention could offer an important means of reducing medication errors in the post-hospitalization period. ..