|
|
5 Ways To Determine Your Aging Loved Ones’ Living Status
5 Ways To Determine Your Aging Loved Ones’ Living Status Taking Notice During Family Holiday Gatherings Can Prevent a Crisis Later On By Gina Saxton, RN We live in a very mobile society where families don’t always live in the same town or even...
And Then There Were Too Many
The latest census in Ukraine revealed an apocalyptic drop of 10% in its population - from 52.5 million a decade ago to a mere 47.5 million last year. Demographers predict a precipitous decline of one third in Russia's impoverished, inebriated,...
Diamonds in the Ruff - How to Find a Good Personal Trainer
The question of how to find a good personal trainer is as old as the industry itself. In fact, it usually gets transformed into an even bigger question - should you even HIRE a personal trainer? Conveniently enough, the answer to one of those...
Drugs and Commerce: A History
In his book, Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World, David Courtwright, Professor of History at the University of North Florida, tells "the story of psychoactive commerce." It is Courtwright's theme that psychoactive drugs - both...
Find a Doctor
Find a Doctor This is usually a simple task. Open up your phone book (Yellow Pages) and look for one in your area; or ask your primary care physician for a referral to see a specialist. Better still, go online – there is an abundance of free ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Take Charge of Your Health Care
QID - QOD: What's The Difference?
To Frank(not his real name), and thousands of others like him, the difference is a matter of life and death. Our story begins when Frank was admitted to a hospital with breathing difficulties. His physician ordered the usual breathing treatments, tests and medication.
After a few days in the hospital, Frank's recovery had progressed steadily, but he still wasn't strong enough to return home. Arrangements were made to admit him to a skilled nursing facility for continued care and convalescence.
One of the medications the doctor prescribed for Frank was Bumex, which is typically used to treat respiratory problems such as those experienced by Frank. The doctor ordered Bumex one time, every other day. That is exactly what was written in his medical chart: "Bumex, 1 tablet, QOD" (QOD is the Latin abbreviation to indicate "every other day").
When Frank was transferred to the skilled nursing facility, a copy of his doctor's orders accompanied him. These orders were typed and placed in an envelope. When Frank arrived at the facility, the nurses on duty opened the envelope and noticed that Frank was taking Bumex, 1 tablet, QID. Remember, Frank's doctor had ordered Bumex, 1 tablet, QOD. In the transcription of the orders, someone accidentally typed "QID." What's the big deal, you might ask?
In medical language, QID means four times a day. So at the skilled nursing facility, instead of receiving this extremely powerful medication every other day, he was being given eight times the ordered dosage. Within a week, Frank had died.
Frank's story is an example of a tragic but avoidable situation. To prevent these types of scenarios, we must take an active role in our own health care, especially when dealing with medications. Our health care system demands that we comply with strict and often confusing instructions about medications. Without an organized system in place, unforeseen medication errors can happen.
It is estimated that misuse of outpatient prescription drugs costs more than $85 billion each year. Almost 30% of all hospital admissions involve misuse of outpatient medications. With these staggering facts in mind, it is vital to carefully review your medication with your physician during each office
visit. Use the following list of questions to help you understand the need for medication, as well as its proper use:
* What is the name of the medication? * What is the medicine supposed to do? * What is the dosage? When should I take it? For how long? * Are there any side effects, and if so, what should I do if they occur? * Is there anything in the medication that may cause an allergic reaction? * Should I avoid any foods while taking this medication (i.e, aged cheese, dairy products)or substances containing caffeine, alcohol or tobacco? * Should I avoid any particular activities, such as sports or driving? * What happens if I miss a dose? * How might this drug interact with other medications I am taking? * Does the medication need to be stored in any special way? * Will I require any follow up tests to monitor this medication? * Is additional information available about this medication?
Take a list of your medications (including non-prescription or over-the-counter medication) to all your doctor appointments. This list is especially important if you are seeing more than one physician. Your physicians need to know specifically what medications you are taking, as well as the reason for taking them.
To provide an additional layer of safety, share your medication list with your pharmacist. It is estimated that pharmacists may prevent more than 100,000 deaths from misuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications and save billions of dollars if they cold review prescriptions and offer counseling to patients. As an active medical consumer, insist on up-to-date information from your physician and pharmacist to ensure your well being and safety.
Finally, be sure to tell you friends and family that you love them at least "QD" (Latin for once a day).
About the Author
Brent Aleshire, from Hartland, Wisconsin, is a dynamic speaker with more than 20 years experience in the health care industry. Brent engages his audiences with interesting case stories and valuable information presented in a relaxed style. Brent has developed several powerful tools for helping people take control of their health care, including two audio tapes, "A Guide to Your Personal Health Care Journal" and "Hospitals:Understanding the Maze
|
|
|
|
|
National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
www.nlm.nih.gov |
  |
Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
www.medicinenet.com |
  |
Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
  |
MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
medlineplus.gov |
  |
Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
www.nature.com |
  |
The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
content.nejm.org |
  |
eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
www.emedicine.com |
  |
Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
dmoz.org |
  |
the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
  |
Medicine - home |
Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
www.md-journal.com |
  |
Institute of Medicine |
The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
www.iom.edu |
  |
ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
www.sciencedaily.com |
  |
Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
www.google.com |
  |
the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
  |
PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
medicine.plosjournals.org |
  |
Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
www.priory.com |
  |
Entrez PubMed |
PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
  |
Stanford University School of Medicine |
Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
med.stanford.edu |
  |
Medicine OnLine |
Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
www.meds.com |
  |
|