What have you heard about health literacy?
Do you ever have questions on how to safely take your medicines?
Medication errors can happen in clinics and hospitals, pharmacies, and at home. Patients and healthcare providers, however, can work together to help prevent these errors.
Follow our patient Anna as she makes the most of visits with her healthcare team and pays attention to how to take her medicine’s at home
Medicine Safety Tips For Patients
Learn how to use your medicines more safely
Medicines improve the lives of many people. They can help us get healthy and stay healthy.
For most patients, the benefits of taking a medicine are greater than the risks when used as prescribed.1 Risks include medication errors, which are preventable mistakes that may harm a patient or lead to inappropriate medication use. 2
These errors can happen in clinics and hospitals, in pharmacies and at home
They cause almost 100,000 hospitalizations every year in the United States3
Patients like you can help prevent medication errors
Remember to: 4
- Talk with your healthcare team and ask questions about your health and medicines
- Read medicine labels carefully and follow instructions on how to take your medicines more safely
- Be an engaged partner in your health and the health of others
Never forget that you, the patient, are an important member of the healthcare team. 5
Meet Anna
Anna, our patient, manages her whole family’s medicines. She makes the most of visits with her healthcare team including:
At the Clinic
When Anna visits her new doctor, Dr. Chan, she brings a list of the medicines she takes and questions to ask her doctor.
At the visit, Anna and her doctor share information. They build the best possible treatment plan for her.
Anna leaves her doctor’s office with a prescription and information on her new medicine’s benefits and risks.
Learn More
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At the Pharmacy
Anna visits her pharmacist, Dr. Rosa, to pick up a few of her refills and the new medicine Dr. Chan prescribed.
Before Anna leaves the pharmacy, Dr. Rosa explains some of the medicine’s important points.
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At Home
At home, Anna pays special attention to how to take and store her medicines.6
Learn More
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Special Groups
Anna also helps manage the medicines that her mother and young son take. Older age patients and children are unique when it comes to taking medicines.
Learn More
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Spot Counterfeit (Fake) Drugs
Counterfeit drugs are fakes. They are not produced under safe manufacturing conditions and are not inspected by regulatory authorities. They may look the same9 as a real medicine but they can contain: 10
- No medicine at all
- Wrong ingredients
- Harmful ingredients
Ordering medicines over the internet from websites that are unknown or untrustworthy may be a serious counterfeit threat to patients.11 If anything seems different about the color, texture, shape or taste of your medicine, talk to your pharmacist.10
SOURCES
1fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm143558.htm
2http://www.nccmerp.org/about-medication-errors
3psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/23/medication-errors
4fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm096403.htm
5fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/ucm079480.htm
6safemedication.com/safemed/PharmacistsJournal/How-to-Safely-Store-and-Dispose-of-Your-Medications
7fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/UCM163961.pdf
8cdc.gov/medicationsafety/parents_childrenadversedrugevents.html
9cdc.gov/features/counterfeitdrugs/index.html
10fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/ucm079278.htm
11who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/4/10-020410/en/