Talk About Prescriptions Month 2006 - Preventing Medication Errors

Whether you have Migraine disease, a different type of head pain disorder, or another illness or condition entirely, medications may very well play an important part in your treatment plan and maintaining your quality of life. Unfortunately, medication errors are made. There is, however, a great deal we can do to help avoid them.

This year's theme

Each year, the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) sponsors "Talk About Prescriptions Month," each year with a different theme. This year's theme is "Preventing Medication Errors - What YOU Need to Know / What YOU Need to Do." This theme promotes three main points:

• To help call attention to the magnitude of personal health problems due to avoidable medication errors;
• To encourage every affected person or group -- including consumers, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, voluntary health agencies, and local, state and national government agencies to get involved in combating medication errors;
• To suggest ways that consumers, their healthcare providers, and public, private, and voluntary organizations can get involved to drive down medication errors, and by doing so, help promote safe and appropriate medicine use.
   

The statistics

• Each week, four out of five U.S. adults uses prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medications or dietary supplements.
• Nearly one-third of adults take five or more different medications.
• Americans fill nearly 4 billion prescriptions annually.
• Hospitalized patients can expect to be subjected to more than one medication error each day. One study found that each preventable adverse drug event (ADE) that took place in a hospital added about $8,750 (in 2006 dollars) to the cost of the hospital stay.
• Conservatively, the Institute of Medicine, in a recent report concludes that there are at least 1.5 million preventable ADEs in the U.S. each year - and it may even be much higher.
   

What you can do to avoid medication errors

At home:

• KEEP an updated list of the prescription and nonprescription medicines & other products like vitamins and minerals, you are taking. Keeping this list on your computer makes it easy to update and print a copies as needed.
• TAKE your medicine list with you every time you visit a healthcare provider and have him or her review it.
   

At the Doctor's Office:

• HAVE the doctor, physician's assistant or nurse practitioner write down the name of the medicine (brand & generic, if available), what it is for, its dosage, and how often to take it, or provide other written material with this information.
• HAVE the prescriber explain how to use the medicine properly.
• ASK about side effects and what to do if you experience a side effect.
   

At the Pharmacy:

• KNOW that you can review your list of medications with the pharmacist for additional safety.
• KNOW that you have the right to counseling by the pharmacist if you have any questions.
   

At the Hospital:

• ASK the doctor or nurse what medicines you are being given.
• DO NOT take a medicine without being told the purpose for doing so.
• EXERCISE your right to have someone with you whenever you are being given medicine and are not able to carefully follow the medication-use process yourself.
• BEFORE SURGERY, ASK whether there are medications, especially prescription antibiotics, that you should take or any that you should stop taking.
• BEFORE YOU GO HOME, ASK for a list of the medications that you should be taking at home, have a healthcare provider review the medicines with you, and be sure you understand how to take these medicines.
   

Summary

Medications are a valuable element of our treatment. Used properly and wisely, they're beneficial to us. Many medication errors can be prevented when we ask questions and work with our doctors. Be proactive, ask questions, and be safe!
 

Helpful Tools

• Make Notes & Take Notes form: Question sheet to take with you to each appointment.
• Guide To Visiting a New Doctor
• Headache and Migraine diary
• Tips for Safe Medication Use

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Resources:

• Press Release: "Preventing Medication Errors: What YOU Need to Know / What YOU Need to Do - Annual NCPIE observance works to improve medicine communication/reduce medication errors." National Council on Patient Information and Education. October, 2006.
• National Academy of Sciences. "Preventing Medication Errors." Washington: National Academies Press. 2006.
• Committee on Identifying and Preventing Medication Errors, Institute of Medicine. "Preventing Medication Errors Quality Chasm Series."