Talk About Your Medicines Month | Tennessee Valley Urology Center
This October marks the 32nd annual Talk About Your Medicines Month campaign. Each year, the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) encourages both healthcare professionals and patients to understand how better communication about medicines can help promote better prescription use and ultimately, health outcomes. Throughout the decades, the campaign has widened its focus to help patients better understand their expected health outcomes, possible adverse effects from medications, and the benefits along with any potential risks of drug therapy. Your team at the Tennessee Valley Urology Center is pleased to introduce the campaign to our community as well.
In recent years, one common focus of Talk About Your Medicines Month has been to help reduce the risks of polypharmacy. What is polypharmacy? This term typically refers to a patient being prescribed five or medications which might not be necessary, yet could pose a risk to an individual of adverse effects.
Consider these tips to help your avoid the dangers of polypharmacy in your own medical care.
Keep an ongoing list of each medication you take, including its strength and dosage. Include all supplements, vitamins, and over-the-counter medicines you may take as well. Prescription medications should also include the name and contact information of the prescribing doctor.
Each time you visit a health care professional, take along your updated list of medications. Always ask your doctor or pharmacist to check your list for possible interactions between medicines and supplements.
Periodically check with your medical provider whether or not you still need every medication on your list, or if you might reduce the dosages.
Always be a label reader. Simply reading your medicine labels and warnings can sometimes help you avoid a drug interaction or potential side effect.
Whenever possible, have your prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy. This gives your pharmacist a complete record of the medications you currently take and can more easily watch for possible interactions. Most pharmacies also offer medication synchronization programs which let you coordinate your refill schedule on a single day of your choosing each month–which also gives you a great time to speak to your pharmacist about any questions.
Particularly when buying OTC medications, avoid combination products which contain multiple active ingredients. This is common in cold remedies which may treat multiple symptoms. Only by medications which treat the specific symptoms you are having.
Are you already taking multiple medicines daily? Don’t start taking a new medicine without first discussing the possible side effects of interactions with your doctor and/or pharmacist. And whenever a new medicine is prescribed, ask whether or not the new will medicine work safely with the other medicines you are taking.
We hope that this October you will feel more confident about your own medication list and what you can do to help avoid the risks of polypharmacy. And please keep Tennessee Valley Urology Center in mind for any urologic needs you may have. You can visit our website today to learn more about our services.