Preventing Medication Errors at Home

by Simon Haroutounian

Overview

Your home probably has some sort of pain relief medication, something to combat bouts of allergies, and maybe a few vitamins or supplements from the local health store. And then there are the prescribed medications, the ones you're taking daily and those that you take "as needed". But do you ever wonder how your medications work, what is the best time to take each, or how that pain relief tablet, those allergy meds, and prescription drugs interact when taken at the same time? Or how your newly prescribed antibiotic reacts with that glass of wine you had with dinner?

Preventing Medication Errors at Home tells you what you need to know about those medications in your house and how each can improve your health and possibly cause harm. With drug therapy being a major part of conventional medical treatment, and so many medications available over-the-counter, tens of thousands of people in the United States alone die every year from side effects related to their diabetes, pain, depression and blood-thinning medications, and roughly one million people are admitted to the hospital for drug-related issues. At least half of these disasters are preventable with proper awareness of how drugs work, how to take them properly, how to identify serious side effects, and how to avoid dangerous drug combinations.

Dr. Simon Haroutounian presents an engaging, easy-to-read book to help you take responsibility for your medications. Learning how to ask the right questions before you start a new medication is likely to improve your health, and possibly save your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190674984
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/12/2019
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Dr. Simon Haroutounian is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology in Washington University School of Medicine, and Chief of Clinical Research in Washington University Pain Center, in St. Louis, MO.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I Everything You Need to Know About Drugs
Chapter 1. Prescription Medications: Friend or Foe?
Chapter 2. Why Do I Need to Understand My Drugs Better?
Chapter 3. What Does Our Body Do to Drugs? The Amazing Journey of a Molecule
Chapter 4. What Do the Drugs Do to Our Body?
Chapter 5. Taking My Drugs Properly
Chapter 6. Avoiding Undesired Drug Effects
Chapter 7. Combining Drugs with Food and Drinks
Chapter 8. Interactions Between Drugs
Chapter 9. Do It Yourself : Over-the-Counter (OTC) Drugs and Disease Prevention
Chapter 10. Drugs in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

PART II: Medication Therapy Tips in Common Disease States
Chapter 11. High Blood Pressure: The Silent Killer You Can Stop
Chapter 12. Fighting the Battle Against Lipids and Cholesterol
Chapter 13. Blood Thinners: The Balancing Act Between Bleeding and Clotting
Chapter 14. Not So Sweet: Managing Diabetes
Chapter 15. Let Me Breathe! Step-by-Step Asthma Management
Chapter 16. Epilepsy: Understand Your Drugs to Stop the Seizures
Chapter 17. Hoping for a Better Day: Treating Depression
Chapter 18. Does It Really Have to Hurt? Managing Pain Wisely
Chapter 19. Thyroid Problems: Restoring the Delicate Energetic Balance
Chapter 20. Infections: Destroying the Invaders While Saving the Host
Chapter 21. Summary

Glossary of Terms

Editorial Reviews

"Preventing Medication Errors is a well written guide that in the first part explains everything you need to know about drugs and their effects in our bodies. I really like the case examples presented in some sections, especially in the chapter on pregnancy and breastfeeding where there is also an excellent summary of the considerations during these conditions. The second part gives the reader tips on how to handle medications in common diseases. All in all, I think this is an excellent resource for home use about the optimal use of drugs in order to prevent medication errors." — Robert H. Levin, Pharm.D., FASHP, FCSHP, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, University of California

"Dr Haroutounian's book is about an important and timely topic: the use of medication and how to prevent errors at home. This very readable and didactic book has two parts. The first part describes essentials about drugs and how they work . In the second part, there are very valuable management chapters for the person with different disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, pain, etc. The book benefits form many useful examples which makes it easy and interesting to read. Tens of thousands of people die every year because of side effects and overdosing of drugs. Most of these fatal cases could have been avoided if simple principles about drug efficacy and safety were known by those taking medications. I am convinced that Dr. Haroutounian's book will contribute to a better and safer use of drugs among people in the future." — Troels Staehelin Jensen, MD, DMSc, Professor of Neurology, Director of Diabetic Neuropathy Center, Danish Pain Research Center, Aarhus University

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Judith Klevan, B.A Biology B.S. Pharmacy(Einstein Medical Center)
Description: This book covers different types of medications that people would typically have in their household, the ways they work, the ways they benefit and harm patients, and ways to prevent medication errors.
Purpose: The purpose is to educate people on what they need to know about medications and how to take them responsibly. These objectives are worthy as many hospitalizations and deaths are caused by medications errors. The book fulfills its goals.
Audience: According to the author, the audience is anyone who takes or keeps medications in their home. This could include patients with long-term or short-term illnesses, caretakers for patients with an illness charged with administering medications, and students in any healthcare professions. The author has a background in teaching and practicing pharmacy.
Features: The book covers disease states and how medications work very well. It has helpful tables of medications, methods of administration and doses, types of monitoring, drug interactions, and tips for administrations. The best aspects of the book are the take-home messages and summaries in the chapters. However, it lacks illustrations, which would be helpful in demonstrating the receptor lock and key principles and would make the book more palatable for lay readers. The book is written at a very high reading level, which may be above the reading level of the people who would need this type of book the most. For example, the section about insulin is written for people who understand that glucose means blood sugar. The book could have just substituted the phrase blood sugar for glucose. The same chapter also discusses different organs and how they relate to insulin. Readers who don't have basic anatomy and physiology knowledge would find this chapter over their heads. An illustration of the body with a picture of the pancreas and insulin movement and blood sugar in the body would help make this more understandable and more interesting for lay readers without much medical knowledge. The book can be dry reading and might have too much information for laypeople who just want basic information about how to best store and give medications while avoiding medication errors. The book would be better if the first part of the chapters contained tips for how to store, administer, monitor, and avoid errors in their home with illustrations for people with lower reading levels and less of an interest in the detailed information or in taking the time to go through the book to find the information they need. The second half of the chapters then could have the rest of the information for people with a higher reading and interest level and more time to read in further detail.
Assessment: This is a high-quality book, but it may not be useful for the intended audience due to the high reading level, dry text, and length. Someone who really needs this information may need more illustrations and less pedagogic language. I doubt the book would hold intended audience's interest long enough to get the material they are looking for. This would be worth updating to make adjustments to make it more palatable for the intended readers.

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