1. Why take this class?
Most Americans report they don’t take their medicine as directed.
By taking medicine incorrectly, people put themselves at risk of…:
- Getting sicker and needing expensive care.
- Loss of independence and lower quality of life — not being able to do things they enjoy, or even take care of themselves.
- Death. Really!
“Poor medication adherence has been recognized by national health advocacy groups as a public health priority; it results in more than one-third of medicine-related hospitalizations and
almost 125,000 deaths in the United States each year. Improved medication adherence leads to better health outcomes and reduced total healthcare costs.”
– National medication adherence campaign Script Your Future.
This class shares ways for you to avoid problems and get the best out of your medicine.
It will not give you any medical advice, but by the end of the class you will know
- common medicine mistakes,
- the main problems they cause, and
- how to prevent them by working with your health care team.
When people take more than one medication, research shows they are much more likely to take them incorrectly or have problems with them.
Another cause of problems is that many of us feel that our health care providers are in charge
of our health.
However, we often see many providers briefly, and get our medicines from different places.
Our expectations of our providers may be unrealistic – and increase the chance of mistakes.
Our providers may not have the information that they need — information that we have — to make the best recommendations possible.
As you take this class, you may think of questions you’d like to ask your doctor, pharmacist or other health care provider. Perhaps you could write them down and bring them to your next appointment.
Also, we may be able to send you a magnifier for reading labels, a wallet card for listing
medications, and/or a pill dispenser box. Please contact us to see what we have available:
email AKMedEd@alaska.gov or call 907-269-8041.