Parents, Check Your Prescriptions!
Submitted by Dr. Gwenn Is In Blog
Do you remember the Star Wars marathon I told you about recently? Well, we did have a teeny mishap that evening. Opening the final movie, Return of the Jedi, we found in its place another copy of A New Hope. Clearly, someone had not done their job at the store. And, admittedly, we didn’t think to check before we left the store. But, who does? We all assume these things are done right. And, no harm done. It was just a movie. The store had another copy of Return of the Jedi and we were able to do an exchange that hour and continue on our marathon.
However, not all mistakes are so easy to write off. A couple days later, filling a prescription, a number of mistakes occurred that could have resulted in harm. Simple issue: a partial prescription. Typically, the pharmacist labels the bag as such and they tell me when to return. Not this time. I actually picked up the script 2 days later than expected so one would assume it would have been completely filled, so, akin to not checking the movie, I didn’t check the script before leaving the store. When I opened the bag at home, a partial bottle awaited me – and no note. To add insult to injury, when I called the pharmacy to inquire about this issue and, more importantly, find out when the remainder of the script would be ready, they left me on hold an interminable amount of time and kept forgetting that I was holding for the pharmacist. Midway through the wait period, I mused “Maybe I’ll just drive down – would likely be quicker than this.” My 10 year old daughter, without missing a beat, responded: “They should treat their customers the way they treat their family –or friends.” Definitely a proud mom moment – which eased my brewing frustration!
My prescription issue and the DVD issue are really one and the same. Both involve people at stores not taking the time to double check their inventory. In the case of the DVD, the result was “just” customer inconvenience and a coupon for a free DVD was sufficient retribution. However, the prescription error is a different story. What if I didn’t know how to read a prescription bottle and didn’t know what 4p/120 meant? What if I didn’t even know there were supposed to be 120 pills in that bottle to begin with? What if I was heading out of town and didn’t catch this until en route?
Prescriptions, unlike DVDs, deal directly with a person’s health and we are owed extra care and attention in making sure that errors are minimized. But, since we know errors do occur, we have to own up and do our part to catch them, too. Here are some tips for what to consider:
(click here to see larger image)
1. Check your prescription bottles and boxes carefully.
2. Speak up! Ask the pharmacist to review the prescription with you.
3. Understand your prescriptions – dose, amount, number of pills of quantity of liquid. Hopefully, your doctor explained what to expect but if not be sure the pharmacist does.
I’ve had enough issues with this pharmacy that short term I’ll be checking everything before I leave the store. Long term, we may be hunting for a new pharmacy.
Here are some links for more information on this topic:
CNN’s Don’t be a victim of pharmacy errors
Rx for Safety’s Tips for Avoiding Medication Errors
Understanding Your Prescription (by Oregon.gov)
Reading Drug Labels (by Medem.com)
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