Nível de entendimento de prescri？？es medicamentosas pediátricas em Unidades Básicas de Saúde

objectives: to evaluate the level of understanding of pediatric prescription medicines by those responsible for the children at basic health units (bhus) in the municipality of campo grande, in the brazilian state of mato grosso do sul. methods: a cross-sectional description study was carried out between may 2007 and june 2008. three hundred and thirty-six of the individuals accompanying children attending municipal bhus who received prescription medicine dispensed by the pharmacy were interviewed. a questionnaire was applied to evaluate level of education and factors relating to understanding of the prescription, such as legibility, name, dose, frequency of dose, duration of use, and understanding of complementary verbal information. results: of those interviewed, 80.4% (270) were mothers, 55%-(185) had completed basic education and 90.2% (303) had received complementary verbal information about the prescription. of the prescriptions filled in, 87.5% (294) were considered to be legible. of those interviewed, 47% (158) had insufficient understanding of the prescription. this was associated with low levels of education, not having received complementary verbal information and the number of different medicines on the prescription. conclusions: those responsible for children and the professionals involved in the prescription and dispensation of medicines need to be aware of the importance of providing information on the medicine for the safety of the children.