ProAd - Risk Management: Terminating the Physician-Patient Relationship

Reference Library

Ten Tips for Medication Safety

To keep track of prescribed therapy in the physician's office, design a drug profile to list all prescribed therapy (date, drug, dose, directions, number dispensed, number of refills), over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, vitamins, herbal and other alternative therapy, allergies, and height and weight. The profile could also include special monitoring prompts. Review and update the drug profile at each visit.
If a patient calls for a refill, use the drug profile as a ready source of information to evaluate underuse or overuse of the drug and the need for reassessment before refill.
If the insurer requires a therapeutic change or prescribed therapy differs from that previously prescribed (e.g., at hospital discharge), provide the patient with written instructions about which drug is being replaced by the newly prescribed drug. Instruct the patient to discard the discontinued medication.
Emphasize the danger in keeping leftover medications, self-medicating at a later time, and sharing any prescription medication with others.
Ask the patient, family or caregiver to bring in all current medications, vitamins, herbal products and other alternative medications at each office or hospital visit for verification.
To facilitate accurate drug therapy upon hospital discharge, obtain information about prescription and OTC drugs taken at home. Post a daily, pharmacy computer-generated medication summary on each patient's chart (listing current and discontinued medications) for physicians to reference, along with the pre-admission drug list, when prescribing drugs at discharge.
Establish criteria for an automatic consult to a pharmacist to educate hospitalized patients at risk (e.g., complex medication regimens, and patients being discharged on five or more prescription drugs).
Tell patients to take all dispensed doses of antibiotics unless directed by the physician to discontinue the drug.
Remind patients to obtain all prescriptions at the same pharmacy whenever possible and alert their pharmacist to any prescriptions dispensed elsewhere.
Advise patients to request a phone or mail alert before accepting automatic refills. If patients have questions about continuing the medication, instruct them to ask the pharmacist to call their primary care doctor.

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Source: Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)