Show drug administration by the pharmacist

The Aponet portal recommends that older people who are regularly on medication need to be shown the proper use of the pharmacist, especially if they are the first time they are receiving medication.

27/10/2014

"Taking tablets is relatively easy, but with technically complex packaged drugs such as eye drops, dry juices or inhalation drugs, older people often make mistakes," says Wolfgang Pfeil, Member of the Executive Board of the Federal Chamber of Pharmacists. But not only old people are affected. Arrow: „Unfortunately, younger people, too, often take drugs incorrectly - often out of ignorance.“

In older patients, physical deficits are often added as causes
Thus, e.g. In the age of some patients, the strength in the hands, so that, for example, parental controls, seals or tube closures can not be opened. Rheumatic diseases would also be an aggravating factor as an obstacle, according to Aponet. In these cases it makes sense to have the medication immediately opened by the pharmacist.

Another source of risk is diminishing eyesight. Similar-looking or packaged medicines could be so confused. It is recommended in this context to provide the drugs with eye-catching optical or tactile features such as colored stickers or stickers made of sandpaper. Tear marks on packaging should also be marked. Drops should be counted in a plastic cup, because you can hear and count the drops so.

Even clinics rely on pharmacists for patient and drug safety
But not only the patients make mistakes in the use of medication. Therefore, e.g. in the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg Barmbek pharmacists involved in the treatment process. „We have found that nearly 20 percent of the doctor's prescriptions are in need of intervention“, The specialist pharmacist Matthias Wriedt, who heads the pharmaceutical team at Klinik Barmbek, reports that having a pharmacist on-site every day has a further advantage in addition to the complete check of the medication, said Wriedt at the 12th health care congress of Springer Medicine on the 24th and 25th of October in Hamburg: „The pharmacist is a low-threshold contact person for nurses who have questions about dosing, divisibility of drugs, administration of probes or the delivery of antibiotics.“

In order to avoid confusion, the concept of a „patient-oriented drug safety“, as it is called at the clinic Barmbek, the Unit-Dose-system led, as the Springer specialist media continue to report. Here, the medicines are assembled and packed individually and machine-supported daily. Thus, the patient receives a tube every day, in which his medication is individually and well labeled. Mistakes could be ruled out in this way. (Jp)

Image: I-vista