Mistakes related to medications injure more than 1.5 million Americans every year. The following steps can be very helpful for the patients to protect themselves and their loved ones.

  • Everything you are taking, your doctor must know about it.

Whether these are over-the-counter medicines, prescriptions, herbs, vitamins or food supplements, you must tell your doctor everything about them.

You must take your in use medicines and supplements to your doctor for exam at least once in a year. It will not only provide your doctor an opportunity to keep your medical record update but it also help you to receive better quality medical care.

  • Must report about all allergies or reaction

If you have experienced some allergy or adverse reactions due to some medicines, you must inform your doctor about it. In this way, you can protect yourself from such medicines as can be injurious for you.

  • When your doctor writes you a prescription, make sure you can read it.

If you can’t read your doctor’s handwriting, your pharmacist might not be able to either.

  • Get information in those terms that you can understand

Whenever medicines are prescribed or when you are about to receive them, you must ask:

For what disease this medicine has been prescribed? How should I take it and for what duration? Do these medicines cause any side effects? What should I do if side effects occur? What I must avoid while taking these medicines and is it safer to take this medicine with dietary supplements or some other medicines?

  • Inquire do you have the right medication as prescribed by your doctor

You must ask from the pharmacy before picking up your medication that is it what my doctor has prescribed? According to a study, almost 88 percent of drug errors relate to wrong dose or wrong drug.

  • You must ask if you have any query about the directions on drug labels

Sometimes it becomes quite difficult and perplexing to understand medical labels. So, if you face some confusion or problem related to the label, you must ask your doctor or pharmacist.

  • Get written information about possible side effects.

A study suggests that written information about medicines can be very handy for patients to identify problematic side effects and then inform about them to their pharmacist and doctor.

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