Many of your patients are taking multiple medications at once. Some reports state 50% of patients do not take their medications as prescribed. Some of the reasons included patients not getting their refill on time, patients forgetting whether they took their medication, and taking too much or too little of their medications.
Other dangers can happen when patient medications interact negatively with one another. Each medicine has instructions for best results. However, rarely are these instructions discussed with patients.
This leads to patients trying to make decisions about their medication without proper knowledge. This can be very harmful.
Prepackaged medication helps resolve the negative issues that happen when patients are taking multiple medications. With 23 percent of medication users taking five or more prescription drugs a day, and 12 percent taking five or more drugs a day, the need for safety improvements is needed.
Below are the specific benefits of prepackaged medication in preventing multiple medication damages.
Safe Packaging
Prepackaged medications are separated into single compartments and then sealed to keep out any possible contamination. Patients only need to open the single pocket containing the day’s medication, at the time that is marked on the outside of the packaging.
You can feel better about your patients safely taking their medications when they arrive prepackaged. This is because prepackaged medication comes labeled with a calendar, telling the patient what time and day to take the pills.
With the use of clear blister packs, patients can recognize their different medications. This prevents them from confusing one medication for another.
All prepackaged medication arrives to your office with proper 2D or 3D barcoding attached. This makes it extremely easy to identify and ensure the right medication is given to the right patient. Instructions on how to take the medication is clearly stamped on each package.
Clean Packaging
Most medications come in a single bottle with thirty, sixty or even ninety days’ worth of pills combined. Every time you open the bottle, you are allowing germs and bacteria to enter the pill bottle.
Prepackaged medication companies are required to follow the strictest guidelines set forth by the FDA and the DEA government agencies.
The rooms in which they are packaged, to the safety wear that must be used by the staff, are all taken into consideration by prepackaged medication facilities.
Detachable and Portable
One problem experienced by patients is that they may not always be home when they are supposed to take their medication. This can mean they take more medication later in the day, or in a way that goes against your instructions.
With prepackaged medication, patients can take their medications with them. Medicine is packaged in detachable and portable packs so they can easily fit in your patients’ pockets or purse to be taken at the right time.
All prepackaged medication comes with simple instructions on how and when to use.
Easy Instructions
Patients can get overwhelmed with instructions on how to take their medication, especially when they are ingesting multiple medications. Some pills need to be taken with food, others with water on an empty stomach.
Some need to be taken at bedtime, others before breakfast.
Prepackaged medicines come with easy instructions printed right on the package. The patient can simply read the labeling to find out if it is the right time of day to take their medication. Some prepackaged medicine can even come colored coded to make it even simpler for the patient.
Further simple instructions include how to store the medication properly, including temperature and lighting.
Easy instructions can help patients avoid taking too much or too little of their medication each day.
Prevents Over-taking or Under-taking Medicine
Many patients find it hard to remember exactly when they took their medication. They lose track of which medications they took from morning time to evening. Too often, patients either go ahead and take a dose they think they missed, or, they refuse to take anything and promise to do better the next day.
Either scenario can cause errors, some of which can be fatal.
If a person takes several doses of the same medicine in a day, they could overdose and end up in the hospital for care. If they do not take enough of their medicine each day, they are not benefitting from the positive health benefits of their medicine’s potential.
Prepackaged medications make it harder for patients to misuse prescribed controlled substances like opiates.
Controlled Substances Are Traceable
Controlled substances are needed by some patients. While there are some that will abuse their medicine, others will not. Prepackaged medication makes prescribing controlled substances a positive experience for you and your patients.
You can prescribe as little as one pill a day using the prepackaged format. This greatly reduces the risks of overdosing, sharing or trading prescriptions drugs for street drugs, and any other type of misuse of controlled substances.
Prepackaged medication is also traceable using the extensive database that codes the medicine’s serial numbers with who received the medication. They are traceable all the way back to the manufacturer.
Patient Education
Prepackaged medication does not mean you no longer need to educate your patients. It does, however, make it easier for both of you.
Patient education means explaining to your patients why they need a specific medication or group of medications. It means telling them what to expect, such as side effects, and possible interactions. Patient education involves telling patients what to do if they do experience side effects or interactions.
Patient education also means you allow them to ask questions and receive complete and simple answers. Prepackaged medication can help you do this with the just the click of a button. The software that accompanies prepackaged medication is an excellent resource.
In conclusion, it’s important to make sure patients have every opportunity to receive the safest and best form of their medicine. Prepackaged medication sets your patients up for medication success, which will allow them to see improved health outcomes by receiving the most benefits from each of their prescriptions.