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How much do they know?

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It was clear within the first few minutes of speaking to my aunt that the common person does not know much about medication. Luckily, she is pretty healthy and only has hypothyroidism, for which she takes synthroid. When I spoke to her about her medication, she did know what she was taking it for but was not aware of possible side effects or other significant drug facts. I also asked her about regular over the counter medications she takes or has taken such as the very common Tylenol. She was not aware that Acetaminophen meant the same thing or its possible side effects. More importantly, she did not know about withholding it when taking other medications with acetaminophen. It was a big eye opener, I couldn’t help but think that here I am with so much knowledge gained throughout the nursing program and I have not yet attempted to share my knowledge about things so simple yet so significant. Perhaps sharing our knowledge just for fun might actually be beneficial to some people, we can never assume what they do or do not know.

Medication Knowledge

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This week I spoke with my parents and roommates about what medications they are taking. I started off by talking with my mom and dad together. Before I go further, as many of you already know, my mother is a telemetry nurse and therefore knows her fair deal about medications. She often will teach me about medications that are important to know. Therefore, I focused by survey on my dad who has diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and hypothyroidism. My dad has had these conditions for at least 10 years now and has been taking similar medications for them throughout the years. I assumed that my dad would be very knowledgeable regarding his medications but he wasn’t as knowledgeable as I thought he would be after all of these years. He understood that he was taking medications for blood pressure, high cholesterol, metabolism and his diabetes but he couldn’t specifically name each medication, the dosages or the correct times to take them. Although, I do give him credit because he is usually good about taking blood pressure and blood glucose levels before taking the medication or administering insulin to himself. I think I realized that my dad has definitely become more dependent on my mom to keep him up to date and safe when it comes to his medication regime. I encouraged my dad to learn more about his medications on his own and gave him some verbal information about the medications I was familiar with.

After speaking with my parents, I spoke with some of my roommates. Half of my roommates are really into homeopathic remedies and alternative medicine. They would rather use essential oils to relax them or do meditation to help a headache. Although on the other hand, the other half of my roommates wouldn’t think twice before taking an Ibuprofen to cure a headache. Of these roommates, I asked them what the usual dosage they take are when they have a headache. I was surprised to find that one said 600 mg and the other said 800mg meaning they were aware of dosages. One of my roommates was aware that this medication can cause stomach ulcers and the other had no idea. Overall, I think this was an interesting experience, as I had the opposite results of what I had anticipated when it came to both my parents and my roommates responses.

Who Knows About Drugs?

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I interviewed my sister, my mom, and my dad asking them about the medications they usually take. I was surprised both at what they knew versus what they needed more teaching on.

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(They look so colorful! Who knew there was so much to know about them?)

My sister: My sister takes vitamins and birth control pills. When asked if she knew how they work to prevent pregnancy she was unsure, stating she “had been told 3 times and still not quite sure.” So she learned how they work by preventing ovulation and changing the uterine lining. She named some side effects, such as weight changes, mood swings, and potential skin changes. I gave her more information on additional side effects, especially pointing out the risk for blood clots, which she was not aware of either. She did know about potential interactions of birth control and other items, such as grapefruit, but I let her know also about medications such as certain antibiotics that would require the use of additional birth control methods.

My mom and dad: My mom is a nurse, so I expected that she would know about medications she takes. She only uses albuterol and corticosteroid inhalers when needed for asthma. She was able to state the correct steps in using them, such as coordinating the MDI with inhalation, holding your breath for 10 seconds, and rinsing your mouth after the corticosteroid. I was surprised when asking my dad about the medications he takes, which includes OTC Tums, Tylenol when needed, and Prilosec. He explained how Tums work to neutralize the hydrochloric acid in the stomach, how Tylenol can cause liver damage, especially with alcohol. He answered almost every question I had correctly. I did remind him though to check other medication labels for acetaminophen to make sure he didn’t combine multiple drugs with Tylenol.

It can be easy to forget in the healthcare profession how other people do not get the same education regarding medications that we do. Things that seem so common sense to us now are not that way to others. I think it emphasizes the importance to educate our patients on the medications they are taking as we are giving them. It is something that has been engrained in us now since pharmacology, however it never hurts to survey people every now and then to see how much they really know.

Wait What Medication Was That?

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Meds

Similar to the medication education we provide to our patients, when it comes down to our families and friends, we especially want to make sure they are fully informed about prescribed medications and over-the-counter (OTC) medications they take. Within my immediate family, my father is the only person that is taking prescription medications. Most of my family comes from a medical background. My father grew up with siblings in the healthcare field. Additionally, my father is a veterinarian technician and he has experience administering similar medications prescribed to dogs. My father has hypertension so his physician prescribed him valsartan which is an ARB. When I was taking pharmacology, I asked my father what he knew about the medication he was taking. As I expected my father knew about the classification, action, side effects, generic, and brand names of the drug. As for my mother and sister, they do not have prescribed medications, but they do use over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Zyrtec, Nyquil, and Robitussin. My father usually advises my mother, sister, and I  to purchase generic names over the brand ones for pricing reasons. My mother and sister have some knowledge on identifying brand name OTC medications and their respective generic names. When my sister has any questions about medications, she usually comes to me for information and I direct her to what sources she can use to find medication information if I am not able to answer her or advise she discuss the medication with our cousin who is currently a physician. Overall, I believe that my family as a whole has a pretty good idea about the medications they often take. Whenever we don’t know what a certain prescribed medication is, we go to one another for any questions and concerns we may have as well as utilize technology.

Picture Reference: http://www.pbinstitute.com/how-to-know-if-youre-alcoholic/

Medication Knowledge

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So I actually found some humor in doing this assignment because I knew how clueless my family is regarding the medications they take. I think this sums it all up: “Isn’t tylenol and Advil the same thing!?” The first person I decided to question was my mom because she was my nurse growing up and continues to be my nurse to this day. I did a simple assessment and asked her regarding tylenol, Advil and Alendronate (which she takes for osteoporosis). She knew that both tylenol and Advil can be taken to reduce fever and pain. She did not know what was the maximum daily dose or frequency at which it should be given. Unfortunately she could not identify one side effect of either medication! I asked her if she knows the signs of an allergic reaction and she replied that you sneeze a lot (good thing I was not really allergic to these medications!). I was actually proud that she knew to take her Alendronate on an empty stomach and that it is only taken once a week. She could not identify any side effect. I also decided to interview my dad as I live in a household with only 3 people. My dad is currently only taking one medication because he chooses not to visit his doctor on a regular basis. When I asked him regarding common OTC medications he was as clueless as my mom, perhaps even a little more. He believed that tylenol was another name for Advil and that the only difference was the dosage strength! I think I just found another great reason why I chose to be a nurse.

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It’s a Mixed Bag

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Image result for prescription meds and OTC

Interestingly enough, last week my husband witnessed someone getting beaten and robbed in broad daylight while getting our car serviced. Without giving it a second thought, he sprang into action and tackled the guy. He was able to hold the guy down long enough until police arrived and arrested the guy. He was hurt as he had also taken a beating (to a lesser degree) and had some contusions to his head and hand. I urged him to go to see a doctor at Urgent Care and after he checked out ok, he was given a couple new scripts for medications (Diclofenac Sodium & Cyclobenzaprine) to help alleviate the swelling and pain. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to see how much he knew about his meds.

With my trusty med app in hand I asked him 5 simple questions about each drug: What is the name of the drug? What is it for? When do you take it?  How do you take it? And lastly, is there anything that you need to be aware of while taking the drug? I have to admit, I was pretty impressed by how much information he had retained from his meeting with the pharmacist.  He was able to answer my questions and tell me that he also checked to make sure that there were no drug interactions with his daily beta blocker. I was able to help him identify some OTC NSAIDs that he would want to steer clear from while taking Diclofenac sodium. He did ask why he needed to take it with food and I explained the potential adverse effects of NSAID use.

But it seems to be a mixed bag when it comes to med knowledge. Over the weekend, I also asked some coworkers about some of the common OTC medications that they take such as Advil, Tylenol, and Alleve and I was surprised to find that the majority of the group could not tell me how they were alike or different from one another. Secondly, they didn’t really get the gist of how hard NSAIDs are can be on your stomach, as they all said that they usually take them on an empty stomach. I explained to them the importance of taking them with food and also which drugs are NSAIDs so that they could better understanding how easy it is to overdose on medications such as Aspirin, Advil and Alleve.

Drugs Drugs Drugs

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I spoke with my mother and father regarding the medications they take and asked them a few questions. My dad doesn’t take any regular medications be he knew a lot about common over the counter drugs for pain and when you are sick, ect. (anti inflammatory, cold, cough, stomach pain medications). He also knows about the anti nausea/dizziness medications because he gets motion sickness sometimes when he travels. He was not really familiar with side effects to medications or the safe doses except what the bottle tells him.

My mom on the other hand has a few different health problems and has worked in the medical field for many years. Therefore, she is fairly familiar with different medications or at least the common classes of medications. She also knows a lot about alternative medications and practices. We have even used some alternative treatments. She takes a medication for her blood pressure- Bystolic (beta blocker). She knew what it is for and why she is taking it. She stated that Bystolic can cause your blood pressure to decrease too much and may cause a headache. Synthroid and Cytomel are other medications she takes due to hypothyroidism. She stated that she thinks these medications can cause tachycardia if she took too much of the drugs.th-1

Drugs

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During this week’s blog, I decided to interview two of my close friends about their knowledge regarding drugs and over-the-counter medications. I was really excited about this mini experiment because we are exposed to drugs almost every day. We see drugs being sold in stores, drugs advertised in the media, and drugs taken by our own family and friends. There’s also controversy regarding drugs that affect many people’s decisions whether they should take certain drugs or not. Surprisingly, my friends knew a good amount of information about drugs.

When asked about taking any current medications, one of my friends stated that he only took Advil as needed if he had a headache. My second friend stated that he was not currently taking any medications. I then asked them about their knowledge regarding over-the-counter medications and they both stated that they knew that different drugs were the same but had different names. They both explained that they knew about the importance of understanding the active ingredient. Both of my friends also explained about drug overdoses and how one of their friends had died. It was sad to hear this, but a great way to understand their knowledge.

After discussing several medications with my friends, I educated my friends about understanding different drugs and how they can each take effect at different times. I also encouraged them to go online and find a trusted website to learn more about different drugs, especially the drugs that they plan to take. I found this to be a great experience because both of my friends and I learned something new about each other and about the importance of drugs. Happy posting!

Medications

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This week I talked to my mom and my fiance, Eddie,  about their medications.

Eddie takes levothyroxine regularly. He knows it is also called synthroid.  He knows this drug is for his thyroid and he is supposed to take it every morning, 1 hour before he eats. He does not know any side effects per say, but knows if he does not take it, he feels tired. OTC he takes Advil. He only knows this name and does not know the generic. When asked how often he can take it he responded, “however often the bottle says.”

My mom takes an inhaler for her asthma regularly. She could not remember the name as she has recently started taking it. She does not know any side effects.  She knows she is to use as needed for her symptoms. When asked how she uses the inhalers she stated she puts her mouth on and inhales as she depresses. OTC she takes multivitamins and calcium supplements. She takes Advil for pain as needed. She knows it is also called ibuprofen. Also did not know frequency she could take but knows to read the bottle.