medication errors

Liddle Noodnik · Feb 21, 2005

Interesting when I worked in the hospital nurses could get written up for med errors ..the pts go home and polypharmacy becomes russian roulette
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My office is on a campaign to prevent medication errors
How can we help them?
I wonder if there could be a more collaborative effort on the part of the pharmacist, physician office, and the pt?
Looking forward to your ideas
Darla

The Rite Aid chain (any in your area?) keeps track of all my meds/interactions, etc. One line of defense is to not have more than one pharmacy.

Another line of defense, the patient has a med list with them at all times, which each doc can look at and sign and date with each visit.

Great project for yu guys to have!!

darla80 · Feb 21, 2005

we have two problems you just identified

many of our patients have two or more pharmacies.. do your pts do that?

they have their "mail in pharmacy" their local pharmacy, things they send ot the Canadian pharmacy and then we have some that use the Veterans hospital pharmacy..they see cardioliogy IM Uro etc .. not much continuity

We have worked on the med list angle .. I have cards made up for them to put in thier wallets..my doc prints out a list etc

then they go to another physician get a new med..do not put it on the list .. do not take the old meds off and they do NOT know why they take what they take ..

do I sound a little frustrated ?

Thanks for your input..I am still wearing my thinknig cap :)

Joy and Smiles * darla

laurasc · Feb 22, 2005

Well, in my clinic we have a policy that a patient cannot get a med refill without seeing the doctor. They are to bring ALL their pill bottles to the doc's office and have it all filled at the same time. Does it always work? No. Most times it doesn't. Who's fault is it? I think it's a combination of doctor's and patient's fault. A patient comes in for a med review and two days later calls in because they forgot to renew one of them. Of course, it's then up to us nurses to phone in a refill.

We also have a pharmacist on staff as part of a clinical study. (to see if a pharmacist is effective in a family practice setting) We refer patients to her and she takes the time to go over medications with patients, teaching and sorting. She then makes recommendations to the doctors regarding their patients. She's been known to catch some real doozies.

One of our biggest problems is the drug seekers. One doc in particular has several of them. We're forever phoning pharmacies to check up on them. We've even caught them in lies. They must think we're stupid or something. :uhoh21:

Personally I think that the "no refills till you see the doc" policy is a good one...assuming it's followed....which it's not all the time. A pharmacist on staff, even just part time, is an excellent idea...not only for the patients but also for the docs and nurses. I'm always running to her asking med questions. She's really amazing.

It's a real uphill battle...there's no doubt about that. It's really frightening when I ask a patient about a pill and I get "I don't know, it's the square green one."

Laura