The prescription drug label: a collection of words and symbols incredibly important to the health and safety of a patient.
According to a study done by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, exchanging the abstract technical jargon of prescription drug warning labels for “simple, concise language,” led to a 10 percent increase in patient understanding. When patient compliance may be a matter of life or death, this is a case where clarity matters.
Considering the prescription label as analogous to any form of strategic communication, we can apply the findings of this study to the world of healthcare PR:
Say what you mean
Michael Wolf, associate professor of medicine and of learning sciences at Feinberg and lead author of the study explains, “The study shows the value of a clear message. A lot of the current warnings were phrased very abstractly and were confusing. For example, we changed ‘For external use only’ to ‘Use only on your skin.’ We moved from the intangible to the concise.”
Graphics matter
Whether a brand logo or a presentation pie chart, the visual representation of your message must be obvious. Gone are the days of laundry care symbols that everyone understands. Wolf describes this in terms of prescription warnings, “A current and widely used icon of a pregnant woman resembles an olive. For most people that probably doesn’t convey pregnancy. The new design of a silhouette of a pregnant woman with a bump on her stomach was more easily recognizable to patients.”
Be selective
The modern attention span cannot handle too many words or ideas at once. Pick the right messages for your target audience. Limit yourself to two or three “must air points”. In terms of prescription warning labels, the study suggests a limit of two, “Those should include the most important few, and these should have evidence confirming their necessity.”
We recommend that you consider these lessons as they relate to your messaging goals. And take them once a day with a glass of water.
