The unit of measurement
What Fahem actually measures
The unit of measurement in Fahem: questions are chosen per drug — the aspects that actually matter for that specific medication.
Dose
—
What the patient knows
Timing
—
What the patient knows
Duration
—
What the patient knows
Red flags
—
What the patient knows
Example
Amlodipine
4 core questions chosen for this drug
Evidence
What we know, and never measure
40–80%
of medical information is forgotten almost immediately after a visit
Kessels, J R Soc Med, 2003 · review of patient-recall research
More than half
of patients did not correctly recall when to take their medication
McCarthy et al., Med Care, 2012 · n = 755
38.6%
of Saudi patients misunderstood their prescription label instructions
AbuAlreesh & Alburikan, Saudi Pharm J, 2019 · multicentre, n = 511
2.6%
of pharmacy visits included both questioning and information provision
Alaqeel & Abanmy, BMC Health Serv Res, 2015 · simulated patient, n = 150
The loop
How it works
Four short stages linking the visit to dispensing: ask the patient, surface the gap, close it at the counter, then follow the effect.
1
After the visit
An SMS on the same rail Wasfaty already runs. A link, no app.
2
Before pickup
Plain-language questions chosen for their specific medication (3–5), each with “I’m not sure” and a confidence tap. Just a few short questions.
3
At the counter
The pharmacist screen names the exact gap and one line to correct it. The medication is always dispensed.
4
Afterwards
Every answer becomes one de-identified data point in the first national measure of patient understanding.
The medication is always dispensed. Fahem is a signal, never a gate.
Fahem never restricts dispensing, never scores the patient, and never tells the patient they were wrong. The correction happens face to face with the pharmacist.
Structure
Two layers, one answer
Individual layer
One named gap, in plain language, delivered at the last supervised moment before the patient goes home and starts the drug.
One gap · one sentence · a brief moment
Population layer
The same answers, aggregated and de-identified: which medications are misunderstood, which facilities are not getting through, and whether an intervention actually worked.
De-identified · response-bias corrected
Stakeholders
What each side gets
Ministry of Health
The first feedback loop on comprehension — and the ability to measure interventions, not guess at them.
Pharmacists
The counselling minute that already happens becomes targeted: the one thing this patient got wrong.
Patients
Clearer, safer medication use, corrected before they leave the pharmacy.
See the whole thing, quickly
An SMS, drug-specific questions, the pharmacist screen, then the Ministry view. Answer as a real patient would — your answers are what the pharmacist sees.
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