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Points for Consideration by the Patient

When Your Doctor Prescribes a Drug for You

ALWAYS ask that the prescription include both the name of the drug and the disorder for which the drug is taken. For example: Fosamax for osteoporosis or Zantac for heartburn. This helps avoid "soundalike" errors. For example: over the phone, a person calling in Xanax may be understood to say Zantac. Zantac is for heartburn and ulcers. Xanax is for anxiety. IF the disorder being treated were on the label, it offers a second chance to discover an error.

Tell your doctor about any known drug allergies and of any prior drug-induced adverse effects. This will let him or her check to see if they have inadvertently prescribed a medicine from the same chemical family.

Always honestly talk about all other drugs (prescription, nonprescription, herbal, or nutritional) that you are taking. Include alcohol and marijuana. Remember that some herbal extracts contain the same ingredients found in prescription medicines. Make certain you tell your doctor about these.

Many medicines require special precautions. Examples include avoiding certain foods, alcohol, exposure to sun, certain medicines, or even hazardous activities.

Be sure you understand how long to take a medicine. Talk with your prescriber about this and, if applicable, when and how to stop it. I see many cases where patients thought they understood what do to, and actually stopped the wrong medicine.

Ask your doctor to give you a written summary about the drug prescribed. Few people can remember all of the information and instructions that have been talked about. A concept I have pioneered is the Medication Map. Many medicine errors are made because people forget, make incorrect combinations of medicines, mistake one pill for the other, or take medicine with food when it should not be. The Medication Map organizes all the medicines you are taking, and tells you how much, when, and with what the medicines should be taken. Take the Medicine Map from the back of this book to your doctor or pharmacist and ask him to fill in the form with you. This helps you fit the medicines realistically into your life, or even to show that the first medicine selected might not really be best for you. The best medicine in the world does absolutely no good if you can't or won't be able to take it. Get the most from your health care dollars.