Close to Home
Who knows about drugs?? Take an informal survey of family members, friends, or coworkers. Do they know the medications they take? If they don’t take medications, do they know about over the counter medications – drug/pharmacological/generic/brand names? Do they know the side effects and safe doses? What about homeopathic remedies and herbal medications? Let’s do some “close to home” education and see what happens! In class we can decide if you want to blog, voicethread, or just talk about what you found out…
Mom takes:
Glipizide (used to take Metformin) – “for my diabetes”
Simvastatin – “to control my cholesterol”
Amlodipine – “to manage my high blood pressure”
Cozaar (losartan) – “this is also for my high blood pressure”
My mom did a good job of telling me both the trade and generic names of her medications. She knew what each one was for, and even knew the actions of glipizide. However, she did not know the side effects of all her drugs. She said she’s never experienced any side effects, so she didn’t bother to look them up.
Dad takes:
Norco – “for shoulder pain” (he broke his arm and it gives him pain every once in a while)
Tramadol – “also for shoulder pain”
My dad knows the trade/generic names of the pain medications he takes, their pharmacological actions, the side effects, and safe doses. (He’s a healthcare provider and knows what’s up!)
Following this activity, I realized that my family is much more in tune with their medications and their indication for use because of my dad’s career as a healthcare provider. I work as a med tech at a retirement community and often find that many of the residents don’t really know what they are taking. Of course, they are on medication management because of their inability to manage their medication scheduling, or can’t remember to take their medications at all–but I feel that anyone taking medications should know what they are taking, what they’re for, and what side effects are associated with their medications (in case that these side effects affect normal activity). I’ve also known friends who would take Tylenol throughout the day, not realizing there is a suggested “not to exceed” or maximum dose per day due to its deleterious effects on the liver.
During my study abroad trip to Ireland this past winter, we were asked to go through the Irish pharmacies/drugstores and see how they were different from ours back in the US. We all immediately noticed that medications that were normally over the counter (like Tylenol, or Advil) were behind the counter, and required patient education from a pharmacist. I thought this was both weird and interesting, but coming back and thinking about it I realize the importance of patient education–even for OTC drugs.
