Drug History Taking Flashcards
Purpose of taking a drug.medication history
Gathering medication related details for an individual patient allows us to confidently make recommendations about current medication
When do you gather details about a patient’s medication?
Responding to a patient’s request for OTC medicine
On admission to hospital
When a new item is prescribed
Whenever decisions are being made about the patient’s medication
Prescription medicine information
Drug
Dose
Compliance
Problems
Non-prescription medicines
OTC/herbal (potential interactions)
Borrowed
Drugs recently stopped
Steroids
Psychiatry meds (often need slow withdrawal)
Antibiotic courses (resistance patterns)
Long half-life drugs e.g. amiodarone
Allergies
What drugs are they allergic to? What sort of reaction do they get? Often patients class adverse effects as allergies, can affect treatment options, consider some food allergies e.g. peanuts
Where do you collect the information from?
Patient PMR GP records Patient notes Discharge records
How do you collect medication related details?
Ensure patient knows who you are
Ensure patient knows why you are asking them questions about their medication
Make an appropriate closure- thank the patient, explain what happens next
