What do we need to know about senior medication safety?

I have 10 rules for senior medication safety. The first is to know you are part of your own health team, and as part of that health care team, it is your responsibility to know information about your medicine. You need to have a complete list of all the medications that you take: Prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements and why you take them. You need to understand why you take them and be able to talk to the providers you see about that. You need to know what each of your medications is for, be able to read your label. If you get a prescription from the pharmacy and you don’t understand what it says, that’s the time to ask questions. Your pharmacist can help you understand what the medicine is you’re taking and how best to do it. Ask questions. Nobody minds if you ask us why we’re giving it to you, what to expect when you take it or if there are any special information or steps you need to do to take it correctly. Never take another person’s medication. Just because it works for something that sounds similar to the condition you have or the symptoms that you’re having, doesn’t mean that it’s the right medication for you or that it won’t interfere with the medications you’re already taking, so never take somebody else’s medication. Take your medicine exactly the way it’s prescribed, don’t add or subtract pills because you think there is too much or too little – talk to your provider first and store your medicines safely. For most medicines, that means keep them in a dry, safe place, out of the reach of children. There are some medicines that have to be stored in a refrigerator or that need to be stored in the dark. In that case, you have to make those special considerations, but most things just need to be in a dry, safe place