[GWEN20009]

How does the pharmacy compare and review drug interaction in cases where the patient has multiple Dr's. prescribing multiple medications. Family member being treated for chronic pain and bipolar depression by prescriptions from 3 different Dr's. I checked the meds using the INTERACTIONS CHECKER and there are multiple major drug interactions.

We have been under the impression the pharmacy would notify us of any potential drug interactions. Could the system be "buked" if one pharmacy was filling all the Rx's but half were submitted under private insurance and the other's through workers comp?

Should we address our concern for drug dependency & potential interactions with the pharmacist or with one of the 3 DRs....and if through a DR, which one?

[pharmd1]

Hi Gwen20009,
what you have just mentioned is one of the biggest problems today that we face in healthcare - a disjointed system that doesn't always talk to itself.

The good news though is that currently there are advances being made in healthcare technology to try to fix this problem. More specifically, things like electronic medical records that are centralized and accessible by all a patient's healthcare providers (as well as the patient in some cases). Unfortunately, with hurdles such as HIPAA and other patient confidentiality issues, this is proving to be a tougher-than-expected goal to achieve.

In the meantime your best bet is exactly what you have stated; right now the onus is on you to make sure that everyone involved in your care is on the same page. That means you keeping track of all your medications and letting all your doctors and pharmacies/pharmacists know what you are taking at any given point. They may not always ask you for the information amid other concerns so you should be sure to bring it up and make sure someone (if not all) double-check for drug-drug interactions as well as drug-disease interactions.

I know this doesn't solve the problem for you but I do hope it is somehow helpful to you.

[jugaldgandhi]

Hi...

I am working as a pharm tech right now in Canada and going for the Pharmacy license examination. We at the pharmacy always recommend patients to have 1 doctor and 1 pharmacy. We now have a software in Canada, where pharmacist can actually see the medication history of patient. However, since pharmacy is a billion dollar industry, independent pharmacies are least concerned about patients.

According to me, going to 1 doctor and getting all the meds from 1 pharmacy might help solving this problem.

-Thanks.

Originally Posted by GWEN20009

How does the pharmacy compare and review drug interaction in cases where the patient has multiple Dr's. prescribing multiple medications. Family member being treated for chronic pain and bipolar depression by prescriptions from 3 different Dr's. I checked the meds using the INTERACTIONS CHECKER and there are multiple major drug interactions.

We have been under the impression the pharmacy would notify us of any potential drug interactions. Could the system be "buked" if one pharmacy was filling all the Rx's but half were submitted under private insurance and the other's through workers comp?

Should we address our concern for drug dependency & potential interactions with the pharmacist or with one of the 3 DRs....and if through a DR, which one?

[PeterRabbit2]

Originally Posted by jugaldgandhi

Hi...

I am working as a pharm tech right now in Canada and going for the Pharmacy license examination. We at the pharmacy always recommend patients to have 1 doctor and 1 pharmacy. We now have a software in Canada, where pharmacist can actually see the medication history of patient. However, since pharmacy is a billion dollar industry, independent pharmacies are least concerned about patients.

According to me, going to 1 doctor and getting all the meds from 1 pharmacy might help solving this problem.

-Thanks.

Same situation with me and I could not agree more! We have an improving but "disjointed" system in the USA and the only one truly in control is the patient. One patient should have ONE pharmacy. One doctor? That may be impractical. But one pharmacy, definitely!

Patients should also use sites like this one to check for interactions, and bring their concerns to the medical professionals.

No one human can possibly catch all the Rx snafus. The more heads the better.
For example, I recently brought it to the attention of my boss, the pharmacist, that someone on potassium chloride was also purchasing the OTC drug Dramamine. Concomitant use is contraindicated due to increased risk of GI bleeding. One potential trip to the emergency room averted.

But what is the solution?!?! A centrally consolidated database? That's years and years away! And sounds a bit too much like a dystopia I once read about.

O, brave new world!

[PeterRabbit2]

And what do we do about food/drug interactions? We all know about grapefruit juice and when to caution against its overconsumption. But what about mangoes and Warfarin (potentiating) or Kale (inhibiting) and Warfarin? What patient in his or her normal frame of mind would even begin to ask about these interactions?!?

In the aforementioned dystopia, I suppose tax dollars could go toward labeling all foods with all potential drug interactions. (I'm being only halfway facetious.)

Once again, it falls squarely in the lap of the patient, the responsibility of it all.