Patient information leaflet

Patient information leaflets (PILs) are leaflets containing specific information about medical conditions, doses, side effects that packed with medicines to give the user information about the product. PIL is the European version of the Package insert. The PIL is written by the manufacturing pharmaceutical company and is a patient friendly version of the Summary of Product Characteristics. All licensed medicines need to carry such a leaflet. There are guidelines that must be followed for producing this document, drawn up by the European Medicines Agency of the EU.

Accessibility

The X-PIL service, launched in the UK in November 2005, aimed to replicate these leaflets in more accessible formats, including Braille, large print and on CD-ROM. It is a venture by the Royal National Institute of the Blind, the National Library for the Blind and Datapharm Communications.

See also

• Patient education
• Package insert

References

1. ^ "New accessible PILs for visually impaired" at E-Health Insider - Primary Care

External links

• The electronic Medicines Compendium explanation of the headings in the European patient information leaflet.