Register Variation Across English Pharmaceutical Texts: A Corpus-driven Study of Keywords, Lexical Bundles and Phrase Frames in Patient Information Leaflets and Summaries of Product Characteristics

Focusing on the exploration of intra-disciplinary register variation in the pharmaceutical domain, this corpus-driven study attempts to describe the use, composition and discourse functions of phrase frames, that is, contiguous sequences of words identical except for one (Fletcher, 2002-2007), found in samples of four English pharmaceutical text types, such as patient information leaflets, summaries of product characteristics, clinical trial protocols and chapters/sections from academic textbooks on pharmacology. The study deals with a specific sub-type of phrase frames, that is, 4-word units with a variable slot in the medial position, e.g. be * with caution, to take * medicine. The results showed, among others, that the use and discourse functions of phrase frames vary across pharmaceutical text types, that the correlation between the frequency of phrase frames and their pattern variability may depend on a register or genre, and that it is justified to treat the discourse functions of phrase frames as distinct from those of their textual variants.

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Analysis of Pregnancy and Lactation-related Expressions in the Summary of Product Characteristics and Patient Information Leaflets of the Drugs Used for the Treatment of Nausea and Vomiting

Journal of Academic Research in Medicine ◽

10.4274/jarem.galenos.2021.35744 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 107-116

Author(s):

Volkan Aydın ◽

Ayfer Bahar ◽

Dilara Bayram ◽

Caner Vızdıklar ◽

Ahmet Akıcı

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

Nausea And Vomiting ◽

Product Characteristics ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

Summary Of Product Characteristics ◽

Pregnancy And Lactation

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Distinctive Lexical Patterns in Russian Patient Information Leaflets: A Corpus-Driven Study

Russian Journal of Linguistics ◽

10.22363/2312-9182-2019-23-3-659-680 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 659-680

Author(s):

Łukasz Grabowski

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

Formulaic Language ◽

Lexical Bundles ◽

Text Type ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

Situational Contexts ◽

Frequent Use ◽

N Gram ◽

Russian Patient

This methodologically-oriented corpus-driven study focuses on distinctive patterns of language use in a specialized text type, namely Russian patient information leaflets. The study’s main goal is to identify keywords and recurrent sequences of words that account for the leaflets’ formulaicity, and - as a secondary goal - to describe their discoursal functions. The keywords were identified using three methods (G2, Hedges’ g and Neozeta) and the overlap between the three metrics was explored. The overlapping keywords were qualitatively analyzed in terms of discoursal functions. As for the distinctive multi-word patterns, we focused on recurrent n-grams with the largest coverage in the corpus: these were identified using the Formulex method (Forsyth, 2015b), which provides complementary data with respect to more conservative n- gram and lexical bundles approaches. The results revealed that the most distinctive keywords were identified using Hedges’ g metric, that the largest overlap occurred between G2 and Neozeta metrics, and that the frequent use and discoursal functions of the identified lexical patterns correspond with situational contexts and communicative purposes of patient information leaflets. It is hoped that this study will provide an opportunity for a methodological reflection and inspire further corpus-driven research on distinctive recurrent lexical patterns (e.g., keywords, n-grams, lexical bundles) or - more generally - on formulaic language in texts originally written in Russian.

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What should patients do if they miss a dose? A systematic review of patient information leaflets and summaries of product characteristics

European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology ◽

10.1007/s00228-020-03003-x ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Abdullah Albassam ◽

Dyfrig A. Hughes

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

Significant Risk ◽

Supporting Evidence ◽

Product Characteristics ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Regulatory Authorities ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

Specific Advice ◽

Search Facility ◽

The Uk

Abstract Purpose Medicines regulatory authorities advise that patient information leaflets (PILs) should provide specific advice on what actions to take if one or more doses are missed. We aimed to assess the content in this regard, of PILs and Summaries of Product Characteristics (SmPCs) of prescription only medicines (POMs) marketed in the UK. Methods PILs and SmPCs were accessed via the electronic Medicines Compendium. The following terms were used in the advanced search facility: miss(ed), omit(ted), adhere(d), delay(ed), forgot, forget, lapse. Identified documents were screened for instructions on missed doses which were categorised according to level of specificity, and cross-referenced to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) grading of risk of harm from omitted and delayed medicines. Any supporting clinical or pharmacological evidence was identified from SmPCs. Results Two thousand two hundred eighty-four documents were identified from 7248 PILs and SmPCs relating to 1501 POMs. Seven hundred eighty-three (52%) POMs had SmPCs or PILs with no instructions on missed doses; 487 POMs (32%) included non-specific advice (e.g. “take as soon as possible”); 138 (9%) provided specific instructions; and 93 (6%) referred patients to seek medical advice. SmPCs for only 13/138 (9%) of those which included specific instructions provided any supporting clinical or pharmacological evidence. Instructions were absent for several medicines where the NPSA assessed that dose omissions may result in significant risk of harm. Conclusions Advice on missed doses is generally inadequate. Pharmaceutical companies and regulatory authorities should produce clear and concise instructions on what patients should do if they miss doses, with supporting evidence where necessary.

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A comparative analysis of the lay-friendliness of Danish EU patient information leaflets from 2000 to 2012

Communication & Medicine ◽

10.1558/cam.v11i3.20700 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Inger Askehave ◽

Karen Korning Zethsen

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Patient Information ◽

Patient Information Leaflet ◽

General Interest ◽

Information Leaflet ◽

Empirical Results ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

The Subject ◽

The Eu

Since becoming mandatory in the EU in 1992, the patient information leaflet (PIL) has been the subject of an on-going discussion regarding its ability to provide easily understandable information. This study examines whether the lay-friendliness of Danish PILs has improved from 2000 to 2012 according to the Danish consumers. A reproduction of a questionnaire study from 2000 was carried out. The responses of the 2012 survey were compared to those of the 2000 survey and the analysis showed that Danes are less inclined to read the PIL in 2012 compared to 2000 and that the general interest in PILs has decreased. The number of respondents who deem the PIL easy to read has gone down. According to Danish consumers, the lay-friendliness of PILs has not improved from 2000 to 2012 and a very likely explanation could be that the PIL as a genre has become far too regulated and complex to live up to its original intentions. On the basis of the empirical results the article furthermore offers suggestions for practice changes.

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