It is often the case that you go for a
prescription refill and when you get home and take the container of
pills out, you notice they are a different colored pill or even now a
capsule instead of a pill. What to do? First, call the pharmacy and
explain what you have seen. Most pharmacists will tell you they have
changed suppliers or the doctor had changed your prescription. These
should be red flags and you need to be careful now. You should have
been told this when you picked up the prescription. If the doctor
did change the prescription, you should have been notified about the
reason for the change. Some doctors are increasing the dosage of
statins without notifying their patients.
Hopefully, you did not wait until you
were out to refill your prescription. First, check the information
on the containers to be sure that it is the same medicine and the
same dosage. Next, if the dosage has changed, contact the doctor to
find out why and be prepared to encourage the doctor to return it to
the former dosage. Document everything and if your doctor did change
without informing you, be prepared.
So what can you do, as a patient, to be
sure that your prescriptions are correct?
Keep a list of your current
medications with you at all times. Include the brand or generic
name, dose and frequency. Paper, online or on your phone –
wherever it's easiest and most accessible. Put a paper list in your
wallet to cover you in emergencies, consider that even if you use
your phone routinely.
Cross-check and update your medicine
list with your provider at every visit. This is called
"medication reconciliation," It is one of the most
important things you can do at a doctor visit. You would be shocked
how many patients come to a visit without knowing the names of the
drugs they are taking. When the doctor prescribes a new medicine,
how can he/she be sure it doesn't interact badly with something you
are already taking? If the doctor is lucky, your pharmacist will
pick it up, but only if you've filled a prescription in his/her
system before. Don't leave it to chance. Take charge.
Ask for an updated list of your
medications and prescriptions before leaving your doctor's office.
Most electronic medical records (EMRs) can create a current medicine
list, so ask your doc or his/her staff for a copy. If you use it as
your medicine list to carry with you, everyone will be on the same
page. Alternatively, if your practice gives out an AVS (after visit
summary) at checkout, that usually will have your medicine list on
it.
If you're tech savvy, use the
practice patient portal. Your provider's practice portal has a
medicine list. Take it upon yourself to check the portal between
visits to be sure your medicine list is up to date and correct. You
can usually print your medicine list yourself from the patient
portal.
Cross-check every medicine after you
pick it up against the prescription your provider wrote. This
includes refills. Use your printed medicine list, the portal or your
AVS to check what your provider wants you to be taking. If you don't
have that, you can ask the pharmacist for a copy of your
prescription. Don't wait until side effects occur, as my patient
did, to double-check. Your health is too important for that.
Don't hesitate to speak up if you
think a prescription is wrong. You take it once a week, and now
it says twice a week? Say something. And it's not just the
pharmacist who can make a mistake. Your doctor isn't perfect either.
In fact, since doctors started using the EMR to write prescriptions,
mistakes can easily happen. So please, stop the doctor if you think
it is wrong.
Finally, don't forget that so called
"natural" supplements are medicines too. Some doctors
are very adverse to 'natural' supplements. Other doctors are
accepting them, but are concerned about the ones they are not told
about because of the conflicts between 'natural' supplements and
prescription medications. If you're taking any kind of supplement,
vitamin, herb or natural product, be sure to add it to your
medication list.
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