According to Michele Wiltse, clinical pharmacist at Delray Medical Center, healthcare providers should communicate more with patients at each point of healthcare delivery.
“The healthcare system should do a better job of education,” she told a group at the Shirley & Barton Weisman Delray Community Center, discussing healthcare statistics and helpful directives.
The Institute of Medicine, which is now the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, published an article several years ago titled “To Err is Human,” stating 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur annually in U.S. hospitals as a result of a medical error.
“Medical error is an umbrella term used to describe all errors, including such things as amputating the wrong limb to using the wrong medication,” Wiltse said, adding patients or their surrogates should take a more active role.
Information technologies should be used to reduce medication errors in prescribing and dispensing medications. Labeling and packaging of medications should be improved, she said.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality suggests four ways to play it safe with medicines:
* Give your healthcare team important information. Inform them of all the medicines you are taking. List them on a medicine record form. State your medicine allergies or previous problems when taking a medication; what your other doctors or health care professionals have told you to take, any other illness or medical conditions you have; and if cost is a concern.
* Get the facts about your medicine before taking it. Ask questions of your doctor or pharmacist such as: What is the medicine for? How am I supposed to take it, and for how long? What side effects are likely? Is this medicine safe to take with other medicines I am taking? What food, drink or activities should I avoid while taking this medicine?
Make sure you can read the prescription. Ask your doctor to write on the prescription what the medicine is used for, not just “take once a day” but “take once a day for high blood pressure.”
Keep a list of all medicines, vitamins and dietary supplements you take. Show the list to your doctor and pharmacist. Make a copy of your list. Keep one copy and give the other to a friend or family member.
Make an appointment with your pharmacist at least once a year to physically check your prescription drugs, vitamins, antacids, pain relievers and laxatives.
* Stay with your treatment plan. If you are having side effects or other concerns, tell your doctor or pharmacist. Finish all prescribed antibiotics. Ask your doctor if your prescription needs to be refilled.
* Keep a record of your medicines, vitamins and other dietary supplements to track how you are using them. Whether your caregiver is taking blood, giving you medication, or performing a test or procedure, make sure it is meant for you. Ask your caregiver for whom the test, procedure or medication is intended.
“I learned two important things: First, make an appointment with your pharmacist, and second, put your meds in a brown bag and have the pharmacist confirm healthful usage,” said Delray Beach resident Fanny DeMar.
