Thanks Sherrine. I missed it but hope to find it online.
Many of us have been victims of medical errors. Every medical personnel we come in contact with is human and is subject to human error. It's so important to check and double check.
When you are in the hospital, always ask (or have someone else ask if you are incapacitated), what is this medication and what is it for? Also know that you have the right to refuse any medication. The last time I was in the hospital, I had a respiratory therapist come by every day trying to give me breathing treatments. I have asthma but didn't need them. They had been ordered by the hospitalist "as needed." It wasn't my usual treatment (my allergist has me on a different treatment), I didn't need it, and it had undesirable side effects, so I declined. Also, double check the prescript
ions you are sent home with. I was recently discharged from a large hospital with duplicate pain prescript
ions. One was from the surgeon's resident, and the other was from the anesthesia pain team. I was the one who caught the error and brought it to the discharge nurse's attention.
Don't be afraid to speak up. It's your body. Any doctor, nurse, or pharmacist worth her salt will be grateful that you caught an error before it became a tragedy. I feel pretty strongly about
this topic. :)
I also make sure to check every prescript
ion I'm given at home: what it should look like, what it's for, dosage parameters, and drug interactions. I've caught multiple errors in doing this. I use these tools regularly:
/www.drugs.com/imprints.php - this shows what meds should look like
/www.drugs.com/ and
www.rxlist.com/script/main/hp.asp - both of these
sites have great information about
dosage, interactions, side effects, etc. :
Post Edited (AustenFan) : 6/29/2016 7:40:50 AM (GMT-6)