Handle medicines with care

Usually the role of pharmacies is underestimated because people perceive them as counters to buy goods. In addition, in most cases, pharmacists do not communicate much while handing over medicines.

Very quickly, they would tell patients the frequency of dosage, in addition to marking a couple of lines of the medicine containers.

Pharmacists assume that doctors have given clear instructions to their patients on the intake of medicine and they are not required to reinforce it further. Unfortunately, a lot of patients walk away from the pharmacy with a vague idea of their medicine intake which is something that puts their lives at a major risk.

We should utilise the role of pharmacists more effectively and efficiently as they could be the monitoring body on doctors' prescriptions. Doctors at the end of the day are human beings who are bound to make mistakes. Nevertheless, their mistakes can prove costly because the affected parties are also human beings. Accordingly, it is wise to give pharmacists the authority to double check on doctors' prescriptions as a basic check on the following issues.

1. Allergies. To check if the patient is allergic to a particular medicine and to prevent them from taking it.

2. Verification of age. To check if the age of the patient does not match the medicine prescribed.

3. Dosage: To check if the dosage specified is too little or too much for the patient.

Instructions

Pharmacists should also make sure that patients receive clear instructions on medicine intake both verbally and in writing. They have to explain the purpose of the medicine, frequency of intake in numbers and in hours and the effects of skipping an intake.

For instance, if a patient has a cold and the doctor has prescribed a couple of medicines for the cough, running nose and fever then the patient should know which is which to be able to take an additional dosage for example from the coughing medicine if it became more severe.

It is also beneficial if the pharmacists fix a label on every container or package that clarifies the patient's name, dosage, frequency of intake, timing (before/after food) and the date. It will help patients from mixing their medicines with other members of the family. The expiry date is also very important.

Moreover, it is not only the duty of doctors and pharmacists to make sure that you as patients have got the right instructions on medicine intake. You as an individual share the same responsibility.

Accordingly, if you did not understand fully the instructions of medicine intake ask them to explain it for you again and again. And even if you did not understand the handwriting of the pharmacist take the medicine containers and ask questions and write on it yourself. I personally write the exact time of medicine intake on the container especially with antibiotics where time is an essential element.

Hanan Esmail Al Sahlawi is an Emirati columnist based in Abu Dhabi.