Purchasing & Receiving Your Medicine: At the Pharmacy

60 Seconds Safety Tip: Pharmacists Can Help You Use Medicines Safely

Preventing harm from drug interactions: consumers can play an important Role

Our colleagues at SafeMedicationUse.ca received a report from a consumer who was given two medicines that are known to interact with each other. This type of problem is known as a drug interaction. A drug interaction occurs when the actions of one medicine affect the actions of another medicine.

Ask Questions if Your Medicine is a Powder

A child's father went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for liquid amoxicillin, an antibiotic used to fight infections. The liquid form of this medicine starts as a powder that needs to be mixed with a specific amount of water by the pharmacist before use. By mistake, the pharmacist gave the child's father the bottle of medicine with just the powder.

Spotting a medication error

Consumers can often spot a medication error by knowing what to expect. This includes knowing what medicine has been prescribed (for example, the name and dose), what the medicine looks like, and what side effects to expect. The following reported error and great catch shows the importance of knowing about the medicine you take.

FDA campaign aims to protect consumers from the risks of fake online pharmacies

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently launched a national campaign to raise public awareness about the prevalence of fraudulent Internet pharmacies, which can be dangerous to patient health, and to help consumers make safe purchases.

When Your Medicine Doesn't Look Right

A mother picked up a refill for her child for Strattera (atomoxetine), a drug used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The capsules were a different color than with previous refills. Even though the prescription bottle said Strattera 60 mg, the mother called the pharmacy to check.

Prenatal vitamins and pregnancy

Vitamins and other nutrients are important for a healthy pregnancy. Women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant often receive nutritional counseling and/or a prescription for prenatal vitamins. A prenatal vitamin will not make up for poor nutrition. But it can provide a woman with vitamins and minerals they may not be getting in food.

Mail Order Pharmacy or Community Pharmacy?

An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by business columnist Jeff Gelles explained how health insurers and their contracted pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) make it financially attractive for you to get your prescriptions filled by mail-order pharmacy (usually owned by the insurer or PBM) rather than your local community pharmacy. For example, you may be able to get a 90-day prescription for one co-payment vs. only a 30 day supply at a local pharmacy.