Nov 15 2007
Maintaining a medication record is an important part of managing your health
(NC)-Many people make unexpected visits to hospitals or their health care providers and when asked, don’t have a record of the medications they are taking. A recent Decima survey for Shoppers Drug Mart showed that 26 per cent of respondents keep a list of their medications, but less than half of them keep it handy in their purse or wallet.
Maintaining an up-to-date personal record of prescriptions will not only help ensure their medications are taken safely and accurately every day - it may also save their life or prevent unnecessary medical complications.
“As frontline health care providers, pharmacists ensure that patients are counseled about important information related to their medications,” says Virginia Cirocco, executive vice president, Pharmacy, Shoppers Drug Mart. “As part of the enhanced HealthWATCH practice, our pharmacists give patients an easy-to-use, portable medication record called My File that is updated with every prescription. Simply put, it lets others know what medications you are taking to ensure you get the correct medical advice and/or treatment.”
Below are some tips for keeping personal and family medication records up-to-date and ready for when you need them most.
4 Ensure you receive an updated medication record from your local pharmacist
4 In addition to keeping a record of all recent prescription medications, you may want to consider keeping track of over-the-counter medications, vitamins and herbal supplements
4 Share medication records with your caregivers
4 Answer all the questions your pharmacist asks to make sure that your drug therapy is safe and effective
4 Update and share your medication record with your health providers; including your local pharmacist and doctor
Keeping up-to-date medication records is a smart way to manage your personal and family health - from day-to-day activities to those times when having this information at your fingertips may be critical.
Credit: www.newscanada.com
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