Health Topics for Aging

Nursing Homes/Care Centers

Geriatric Assessment Clinic

Medication safety

Medicines are a great benefit to our lives. They can relieve pain or cure conditions that years ago would have been deadly. However, we should be careful to use medicines as directed. Many may be very dangerous if used improperly. Growing older changes how the body absorbs and uses medicines.

If you think that a medicine is not working, contact your healthcare provider right away. Also let him know if it makes you feel funny, or if it's causing an unexpected or unpleasant side effect. Twelve to 15 percent of all hospital admissions are from complications, side effects, or misuse of medications.

To ensure your health and safety, follow these medication safety tips:

• Carefully follow the label instructions. Take only those prescription drugs that are prescribed for you. Never take someone else's medicine. Check with your pharmacist or healthcare provider if you have any questions.

• Make sure that your healthcare provider knows about all of the medications you take. This includes all prescription and non-prescription medicines. Some medications will not work or have dangerous side effects when taken with other medications. It can help your healthcare provider to make decisions about your healthcare if you take a list of all of the medications you are using, whether prescribed, over-the-counter, or off the street, with you at the time of being seen.

• Discard old medications you are no longer using. Flush them down the toilet. Also discard any medication if you can no longer read its label or if it is outdated.

• Never mix medications in the same container.

• If you cannot use child-resistant caps, be sure to keep all medicine containers away from children and pets.

• Some nonprescription medicines are dangerous when taken in large quantities. Examples are aspirin and vitamin pills with iron. Before you take over-the-counter medications, check with your healthcare provider.

• If you need glasses to read, be sure to wear them when taking medicine. This way you can be sure you have the right medicine. For the same reason, turn on the light when you take medicine at night. For patients with severe vision or memory problems, a responsible person can place daily medications in a container made especially for this purpose. Check with a local drug store to purchase this container.

Be sure to keep the phone number of your local poison control center handy. Call them with any questions you may have about medications, their effects, or about overdoses and accidental poisonings.

Copyright (c) 1999. HBO & Company (602) 230-7575. All Rights Reserved.