McCready Foundation Building a Healthy Community One Person at a Time

What We Stand For ...

McCready Memorial Hospital

Cardiac Rehabilitation & Community Fitness

Diagnostic Services

Medical-Surgical Unit

Alice B. Tawes Nursing Home

Growing to Serve Seniors

Opportunities for Volunteers

Auxiliaries

McCready Foundation directors

With Your Will, There's A Way

Double Your Donation

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Introduction

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

News Releases

2010: CDER – Monitoring Drug Safety for Older Adults

2010: McCready Elects Board Members

2010: Landmark Donates Again

Mary Beth Waide - CNO

Surgeon targets cancer research

Cookbook = McCready link

2009-10 Wor-Wic scholarship

2009 Bina scholarship

2010: Latest MRI Tests “Come” to McCready

2010: How to Avoid Common Drug Side Effects

How to Avoid Common Drug Side Effects

By Frank E. Goldman, PharmD.

A study linking drug side effects and emergency room admissions found that a large number of Americans—as many as 700,000 annually—land in the hospital because of side effects from taking medications. The good news is that there are precautions you can take to avoid some of these drug events.

Most severe adverse drug events are caused by unintentional overdoses. These overdoses generally involve a small number of medications, all of which must be monitored closely to prevent users from having too much or too little—in their blood.

A common culprit is the blood thinner warfarin (coumadin). Two others are insulin (for diabetes) and digoxin ( a heart drug). These three medications caused nearly one third of the adverse drug events reported among older adults. Another medication that ranks high in causing adverse drug events is the antibiotic amoxicillin.

Steps for safety—Should you avoid these medications? Not at all. Taken properly, they seldom cause serious side effects, but you must be informed about your medications. To help avoid adverse drug events…..
1) Ask your doctor or pharmacist about side effects.
2) Take your medications as directed.
3) Always keep follow-up appointments.
4) Inform others about your risk. Make sure family, friends, and coworkers
know you’re at risk. Consider wearing a medical alert bracelet.
5) Make sure you really need to take the medication. Have a list of all your
medications when you visit your doctor so he or she can evaluate them for unnecessary or redundant meds.

Do you have a question about medications? Reach Dr. Goldman –the McCready Hospital pharmacy director – during business hours by calling 410-968-1200, Ext. 349).