Tema-Ghana, Sept. 20, – Pharmacists at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema have reminded doctors and other health officials to carry out a medicine reconciliation before prescribing medications for their patients.
According to them, medicine reconciliation would help prevent prescribing the wrong medication, minimise drug interactions, and prevent prescription cascades that could have adverse effects on patients.
Dr. Marc Kwame Dzradosi, the Head of Pharmaceutical Service, together with Ms. Sandra Araba Mensah, the Deputy Head of Pharmacy, and Nana Oye Edmund, the Inpatient Pharmacy Supervisor at IMaH, gave the advice during the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! A Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative.
Dr. Dzradosi and his colleagues said this when treating the topic: “Polypharmacy” said patients must be asked what medications they are on, both the prescribed ones and supplements and herbal ones, when they report to the hospital.
He added that after getting the needed information, sometimes there was the need to de-prescribe those that were not needed through properly laid-out processes before adding new ones.
He also advised patients to make it a point to have all the information on medications they were taking, adding that if possible, they should go along with them to the hospital to make it easy for the reconciliation for their own good.
He said currently a number of people are polypharmacy patients as they are on five or more medications simultaneously due to having different health conditions. This, however, comes along with some reactions and interactions.
Dr. Dzradosi stated, for instance, that one person might be suffering from hypertension, high cholesterol, arthritis, prostate, kidney issues, and cancer, among others, adding that all these illnesses would have their own medications for treatment.
Ms. Edmunds, the Inpatient Pharmacy Supervisor at IMaH, reminded the public that all medicines have side effects, both general and specific, and therefore advised patients to immediately report to the hospital any side effects that they were not comfortable with.
She also urged patients to read the medicine leaflets to get enough education on the medicines prescribed for them, as they contain the ingredients, side effects, dosage, and dos and don’ts when one is on that medication.
She further said patients should ensure that they understood the instructions for their medicines from the doctor and pharmacists before leaving the hospital.
Ms. Mensah, the Deputy Head of Pharmacy at IMaH, reiterated the need for patients to feel free to ask questions about the medications they have been given to ensure their safe use.
She said the questions should cover what sickness the medicine is intended to treat, how to store it, its side effects, and when and how to take it, among others
Polypharmacy is an umbrella term to describe the simultaneous use of multiple medicines by a patient for their conditions.
