Take an Active Role in Your Medication

Your doctors, nurses and pharmacists work hard to keep you healthy, but you also play a key role in your health and safety. Unfortunately, medication errors can happen. They happen in hospitals, in pharmacies or even at home. The more information you have, the better able you are to prevent errors and take care of yourself. You have to ask your pharmacists, doctors and nurses about your medications, and you have to expect answers.

What You Can Do at Home

Taking the following steps can help you avoid medication errors:

• Make a list of the medications you are currently taking. Include the doses, how often you take them, the imprint on each tablet or capsule, and the name of the pharmacy. The imprint can help you identify a drug when you get refills. Include any over-the-counter medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements or herbal products that you take regularly.
• List your medication and food allergies.
• Keep medications in their original containers. Many pills look alike, so by keeping them in their original containers, you will know which is which and how to take them.
• Never take someone else’s medication.
• Read the label every time you take a dose to make sure that you have the right drug and that you are following the instructions.
• Turn on the lights to take your medications. If you can’t see what you’re taking, you may take the wrong thing.
• Don’t store medications in the bathroom medicine cabinet or direct sunlight. Humidity, heat and light can affect medications’ potency and safety.
• Don’t chew, crush or break capsules or tablets unless instructed. Some long-acting medications are absorbed too quickly when chewed, which could be unsafe. Other medications either won’t be effective or could make you sick.

In the Hospital and at the Doctor’s Office

Keeping everyone at the hospital or doctor’s office informed about your medications is also important.

• Take your medications and the list of your medications with you when you go to the hospital. Your doctors and nurses will need to know what you are taking.
• Tell your doctor that you want to know the name of every medication and why you need it. That way, if anyone tells you anything different, you’ll know to ask questions, which might prevent errors.
• Look at all medications before you take them. If it doesn’t look like what you usually take, ask why. It might be a generic drug or the wrong drug. Ask the same questions you would ask if you were in the pharmacy.
• Do not let anyone give you medications without checking your hospital ID bracelet every time. This helps prevent you from getting someone else’s medications.
• Before any test or procedure, ask whether it will require any dyes or medicines. Remind your nurse and doctor if you have allergies.
• When you’re ready to go home, have the doctor, nurse or pharmacist go over every medication with you and a family member. Update your medication list from home if any prescriptions change or new medications are added.
• Take your medication list every time you go to your doctor’s office, especially if you see more than one doctor. He or she might not know about the medications other doctors prescribed for you.

Source: General Advice on Safe Medication Use, Institute for Safe Medication Practices Website, 1800 Byberry Road, Suite 810, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, www.ismp.org/consumers/brochure.asp

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