Safety Squad for Health

We visit the doctor seeking health. We may hand ourselves and our condition over, confident that the doctor will make us better. We thus disengage ourselves from the system. We allow the doctor to do their job: assess our symptoms and prescribe a course of action. We respond by filling the script and taking a medication. We then expect results.

In this model, we totally overlook our own responsibility. We too are responsible for our health and safety when seeking medical attention. Medication therapies and other prescriptions for wellness are only as successful as we are at following them with accuracy. Our accuracy is improved with knowledge. If we know 'what', 'why', 'how', we’ll stay safe and see better results.

When we leave the doctor’s office, our health and safety are in our own hands. To ensure our health is improved and safety preserved, we need to be knowledgeable—of our condition and how we can improve it.

How do we education ourselves? Communication is key.

It is imperative: Don't just listen, Understand. A doctor can talk at you—tell you your condition and what therapies or procedures will follow. If you merely listen you won't understand the deeper, more fundamental ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘how’. More complete understanding of your health condition and how the prescribed therapy helps will allow you to follow directions with accuracy, increase the efficiency of therapies, and safely improve your health.

Safety is in your hands. 10% of all hospital admissions are the result of medication errors, and that's just the beginning. The total annual cost of these errors is $250 - $300 B. Furthermore, 25% of all nursing home admissions are the result of these same errors. 

Managing Meds With Expert Ease

Do you or does someone you love take multiple medications? Does it ever get confusing?

The misuse of prescription drugs is a common danger that can be avoided. With proper precaution and the right tools, errors and injury are preventable.

Manage Your Meds With Expert Ease. Managing multiple medications is complicated, even confusing. Each additional prescription increases the risk of mistake. Each pill has its own set of instructions and precautions. In order to optimize your medication therapy, avoid side effects, and be well, you are tasked with a lot to remember. Follow these helpful tips and be on your way to wellness with less confusion.

Managing Medication with Ease! on Prezi

How Do We Eliminate Pill Confusion?

According research conducted by the Society of General Internal Medicine 41% of seniors reported taking 5 or more prescription medications.

A pink pill, a round pill, a blue one, a purple one, one that is oval, one that is square.  These medications come in a plethora of shapes, sizes and colors that even a trained professional - let alone the chronically ill patient - can find confusing.

Medication non-adherence is a severe challenge. As cited in a Bloomberg Businessweek article:

• Nearly 3 in 4 Americans don't always take medication as directed
• More than 1 in 3 hospital admission are medication-related 
• ~125,000 premature deaths are attributed to medication non-adherence
• This is an extra cost of ~$290 billion per year to patients, insurers and government health programs

Confusion is a significant factor in non-adherence.

Pill Confusion

How do we defeat Pill Confusion? Pill Pouch seems to have triumphed.  Check it out!

Do You Know Your Community Pharmacist?

Who is your community pharmacist? Trusted adviser? Sought after resource? Part of our care network? Friend?

Some of us may not know our community pharmacist. In the advent of central-fill, home delivery prescriptions and access to information at any hour, our trusted community pharmacist may be turning into an obsolete intermediary. As a result, are we missing an opportunity for better care?