HOW TO SPOT IF THEY’VE GIVEN YOU THE WRONG DRUGS
WHAT can you do to protect you or your loved one against medication errors in hospital?
Take all the medicines you’ve been prescribed in to hospital with you — that includes the contraceptive pill, HRT, eye drops, inhalers and nebulised medicines — as well as any you’ve bought yourself (vitamin and mineral supplements, for instance); bring the original packaging, too.
‘Anyone admitted to hospital should do this,’ says Steve Williams, medicines safety spokesperson at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
‘But it’s particularly important for people taking several different tablets to manage one or more long-term conditions so that doctors know exactly what you are taking.’
It’s also worth keeping a list of your medications to hand ‘so that you or a family member can find it, should you need to be admitted to hospital unexpectedly’, he says.
Some ambulance services now routinely pick up a patient’s daily tablets if they’re being taken to hospital for emergency care. If you forget or are unable to bring in your medicines or list of medicines, ask a friend or family member to bring them in as soon as possible.
Once you’ve been admitted, most hospitals will encourage you to continue taking your own medications.
‘It’s the easiest way to ensure that you’re taking the correct type of medicine in the correct doses,’ says Steve Williams. Once the pharmacist has checked the medicines that have come with you, these will be kept in a locked ‘Patient’s Own Drugs’ (POD) locker beside your bed, along with any new medications prescribed by the hospital. T
he ward nurse will normally keep the POD key to ensure medicines are locked up at all times.
There are plans to introduce ‘self-management’ of medication for some patients — notably those with diabetes, so they have the key and can take their medication around meal times and in response to blood sugar tests they take themselves.
‘Diabetes care is very individualised, especially if that person is using insulin — the person with the greatest expertise in managing diabetes is commonly the individual themselves,’ says Dr Daniel Flanagan, a specialist in diabetes at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.
Under new guidelines, issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), a list of medications should be drawn up by a pharmacist, nurse or doctor within 24 hours of a patient’s admission.
NICE also says a pharmacist or doctor should carry out a medication review for patients taking several different drugs on their admission to hospital, says Alistair Gray, clinical lead pharmacist at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
‘It’s an opportunity to check that the patient is only taking tablets that are safe and appropriate to their medical needs,’ he adds. ‘The problem is that once a mistake is made — whether it occurs in the community or the hospital — the patient can be prescribed the wrong drug or combination of drugs for days or even months before it’s picked up.’
Be alert to the fact that there are opportunities for medication errors to be made throughout your hospital stay.
‘Any time you are transferred from one place to another — whether that’s from home to hospital, from theatre to a recovery room or simply from one ward to another, there’s a chance that the information about the medication you are taking will get lost,’ says Steve Williams.
Patients should aim to be ‘fully aware of the medicines they are being given and understand what they are for’, adds Alistair Gray. ‘You may notice that the dose has changed or that you have been given a different brand of medicine. It’s always worth asking the pharmacist, doctor or nurse to get reassurance,’ he says.
Don’t take any medicine unless the nurse has asked your name and checked your patient identity bracelet. ‘That’s the best way to ensure that you are getting the medication that’s meant for you,’ he adds.
If you have an allergy to a drug, such as an antibiotic, increase your protection by wearing a Medic Alert bracelet or pendant, suggests Steve Williams.