How to Avoid Medication Errors at Home: What You Need to Know

The trend of medication errors is on the rise, there are steps you can take to avoid harmful effects of prescription and over the counter medications at home. First, if there are any old, outdated, pills to powder medications, especially discontinued medications, please discard them at once by flushing in the toilet only. Do not reuse any eye or nose medications after completing course of treatment, discard appropriately. Check the bottle for expiration dates; even if the medication appears unaffected, many medications lose their efficacy after this date.

I have seen many people accept prescriptions from the physician and not ask for any further instructions except how often to take them. You should ask "what is the purpose of the medication, how long will I have to take the medication, what are the main side effects and what to do if any occur, what are the desired effects, when does the medication take effect, what is the spacing between doses, which medications are incompatible with my other medications". Ask what you can do to monitor for effectiveness such as, blood pressure or blood sugar measurements. Some medications are sustained or extended release, it is important not to crush these as you may receive the entire dose at once, causing an overdose. You should know what to do if you miss a dose, but never take a double dose unless advised, which is rare. You can also utilize your pharmacy for some of the above questions.

Often people discontinue medications when they begin to feel better; men are notorious for stopping blood pressure medications when they begin to feel better or because hypertension medications frequently cause erectile dysfunction. Substitution medication may be available but do not stop any medication unless the physician is aware; good communication with the physician is necessary. Another potential medication error is not completing a course of antibiotics; when you discontinue too early, the "bugs" may build up a type of immunity, hence "super bugs" which are difficult to eradicate and may become infectious to others. The drug industry must constantly create new antibiotics for these infections and oftentimes you may require a longer treatment regime. Many times, physicians use antibiotics only if the infection is bacterial and not viral, but most people insist the physician order some type of medication. Viral infections usually resolve after a short period, such as a simple cold.

Our society relies too much on taking pills to feel better instead of some tried and true alternative treatments. The internet contains many links to different type's alternative treatments. I do suggest you communicate to your physician and develop a treatment plan. It is very important to inform your physician and pharmacist of all medications you are taking, this includes herbal and over the counter preparations. Many herbal medications have the ability to interact negatively with prescriptions and sometimes red flags appear on computers to make the physician and/or pharmacist aware of the possible error. There are instances when people take their prescription blood thinner but also take an over the counter medication that can also thin their blood or taking prescription narcotics containing Tylenol in addition to over the counter Tylenol; this is deadly and may cause irreversible liver damage.

One way to avoid medication errors at home is to buy a pill organizer. If you have a vision problem, have a relative or friend assist and get containers that are easy to read. Never put pills in same bottle, errors occur in this manner too. Make a schedule of the administration times for all medications remembering that some medications must be taken with meals, on an empty stomach, without grapefruit juice (this is especially true with heart medications), or separately from other medications. Read the prescription labels, carefully, it contains valuable information. Call the pharmacist for any questions; they are more than willing to help.

Generic medications are used as a substitution for the ordered medication, it does not mean these medications are inferior; they contain the same main ingredient of non-generic medications. Insurance companies opt for the cheaper generic medications and co-payments are lower. A few names are very difficult to pronounce but if you know what medication it is substituting, it is all right to call it by that name. I discourage anyone from just memorizing medications by their color or other characteristics, because with substitutions, this may change.

Medication errors at home are preventable if people take time to educate themselves and ask questions. Just because someone gives you a prescription, that is not the end of the transaction. Communicating concerns and fully understanding your medication can prevent many medication errors in the home.