June 2021
Making Prescription Medication Labels
Easier to Understand
Phase 4 of the Medication Label Project will start July 1st!
The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) has funded Wisconsin Literacy for Phase 4 of the Medication Label Project ‘Reducing Medication Errors: Adopting Evidence Based Directions For Use on Prescription Labels’.  

This phase of the project will focus on making medication directions easier to understand for patients by increasing the use of the Universal Medication Schedule (UMS) when prescribing medications. 

UMS uses standard times such as 'morning', 'noon', 'evening', and 'bedtime' so that patients know exactly when to take their medications.

This change will cause less confusion for patients and has been associated with improved adherence to medication therapy. Through their involvement with Wisconsin Literacy, Epic systems has created a UMS translator feature to make it easier for prescribers to use UMS directions. We will be working with healthcare organizations and prescribers across the state to adopt this evidence-based practice.  
A big thank you to all the pharmacies who joined the Medication Label Project
Phase 3 of the Medication Label Project will end June 30, 2021.

A list of participating pharmacies can be found on our Medication Label Project page.

Over 21% of Wisconsin pharmacies joined the project in Phase 2 and Phase 3 to redesign their labels so that they are easier to understand.
Here's some feedback from patients*:

82% preferred their new label

80% reported that it is very important to make prescription labels easier to understand

*from 95 patients surveyed at participating pharmacies
Your pharmacy can still participate
Pharmacies still interested in joining should contact bhumi@wisconsinliteracy.org or 
stan@wisconsinliteracy.org and will be connected with our Pharmacy Label Champions group. The group is made up of pharmacists and technicians who have successfully redesigned their labels and can guide new pharmacies through the process or answer any questions. 
Check out our implementation resources
Additional information about the project and the implementation guide can be found on our pharmacy implementation resources page.

Other useful information on the website includes a Quick Start Flyer and Video, USP guidelines on prescription labels, Pharmacist Toolkit, and more information about the benefits of the project.
Funding is provided by the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment of the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Health Literacy | (608) 257-1655 | www.wisconsinhealthliteracy.org