Steps toward smart medication management

Smart medication management can reduce your risk of dangerous drug interactions and give you more control over your health. Learning to communicate effectively with your doctor and pharmacist can help ensure your safety.

A University of California, Los Angeles, study uncovered a dangerous silence about prescription drugs. While physicians prescribed medications, the following discrepancies occurred:

• Doctors neglected to mention drug side effects 65 percent of the time
• Doctors didn't tell patients how long to take a new drug 66 percent of the time
• Doctors skipped instructions on how often to take medications 42 percent of the time
• Doctors didn't explain the drug's purpose 23 percent of the time
• Doctors left out the name of the drug being prescribed 26 percent of the time

Lead study author, Derjung M. Tarn, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA notes that, "Patients who receive less counseling about their medication may be less likely to adhere to their prescribed regimen, in part because they may not understand how to take their medications."

This communication gap helps explain why half the time, people don't follow directions when taking medications. The danger? One in ten hospital visits are the result of medication problems, says the Merck Manual of Medical Information.

Older people may face a second peril when the doctor scrawls a prescription: Drugs with dangerous side effects for the elderly. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has found that this happened one out of every 12 times a person over age 65 visited the doctor. It happened  even more often for women and for anyone taking multiple drugs.

Top drugs to watch were:

• The pain reliever propoxyphene
• The antihistamine hydroxyzine
• The anti-anxiety agent diazepam
• The antidepressant amitriptyline
• The urinary tract relaxant oxybutynin

Get the full story when your doctor prescribes a new drug by asking these crucial questions.

1. What is the name of the drug and is it name-brand drug or generic?
2. Why is it being prescribed?
3. How, when and for how long should I take it?
4. Will I need a refill, and if so, how can I get one?
5. What are the side effects, and what should I do if I have any adverse effects?
6. How soon should it start working and how will I know?
7. Will I need a smaller dose because of my age or because I'm a woman?
8. Do I need to take it all, or can I stop when I feel better?
9. Should I avoid any foods, beverages (including alcohol), medications or supplements while taking it?
10. What if I miss a dose?
11. How should I store it?
12. What is the cost and will my health insurance pay for it?

The next step in smart medicine management is to get all your prescriptions filled at one pharmacy. Your pharmacist can serve as a central point to maintain a list of all your medicines and can screen for drug interactions to avoid harmful situations.