03 May 2010

Polypharmacy

A random note about the topic of polypharmacy that we went over briefly last class:
I work at an optometrist office and sometimes I enter patient history information into the computer system, especially if we have a new patient. One of the questions on the patient history form asks the patient to list out any medication they are currently taking. This patient that I was working with needed help with that portion because she said she did not know all of the medication she was on. She said she was on "hundreds," and although that was an exaggeration, it is a good example of polypharmacy. When asked if she had some sort of list, she said "no."
Even though the likeliness of a complication arising when dealing with an eye exam is very slim, it was just a good example showing that if a patient is taking more medication than they can remember, they should always carry around a list with them.
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3 comments:

  1. RosemaryB595May 3, 2010 at 3:03 PM

    I agree that it is important for all patients to keep a list of their own medications and to present the list each time they see a medical professional. It is a patient's responsibility to make sure that he/she provides all medical information to service providers, and double checks for possible medication interactions with other service providers like pharmacists. Even when you have the most knowledgeable physician, it is not possible for a single person to know all of the possible interactions for all of the medications on the market. Hopefully, the move toward using electronic medical records will facilitate better documentation and better communication between service providers to prevent the consequences of polypharmacy.

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  2. JoseG495May 3, 2010 at 8:20 PM

    I also agree with this post. I used to work with an Internal Medicine physician 3 years ago and I was in charge of the back office. I had to take patients to their rooms, sort charts, take vitals and of course record their medical history along with the current medication they were taking. Most of the patients were elderly people and many of them were taking multiple drugs for several symptoms. One thing I noticed was that many of the people with polypharmacy did carry a list of their medication, but they never listed over-the-counter drugs. Also most of the patients that were taking less than 3 different drugs, also didn't list the OTC drugs when they were asked. It seems that most of the people aren't aware of what harm do OTCs if taken with other drugs. I include myself in this because whenever I go to the doctor, I sometimes forget about telling them about the OTCs I'm taking.

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