Your Medication: Take with Questions!

When you choose a cell phone, you ask questions: “is there coverage outside the city?” Same thing when buying a car: “what are the safety features?”. But do you ever ask questions about your healthcare? About taking medications safely?

Medication mix-ups can and do happen.

Asking questions is a powerful action that every member of the public can take to improve medication safety. To help improve medication safety, we, along with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute are encouraging the public to “Take with Questions”!

Seniors are particularly vulnerable to medication mix-ups. In 2008, the Canadian Institute of Health Information found that two-thirds of seniors were on five or more drugs, and 21 per cent of these took at least 10 drugs. It’s easy to see how the average person can lose track of what they are taking and how often they are taking it.

Ask your pharmacist and other members of your healthcare team about your medications. Five important questions are:

• What has changed about your prescription and why?
• What medication do I need to continue taking? Why?
• What is the correct way to take the medication? How long?
• How do I know that the medication is working? What are the side-effects?
• What follow-up do I need?

Ask these questions every time a new medication is prescribed or given, and when over the counter medications are purchased. Ask questions in the hospital, at the pharmacy, and during healthcare appointments. 

To assist you with asking questions about your  medications,  the Manitoba Institute of Patient Safety has two resources.  Use our It’s Safe to Ask medication card to list all of your prescription and over the counter medications, including vitamins, minerals and herbal/natural products.   Use our 5 Questions to Ask About Your Medications  - Patient Notes to write down the answers to the important 5 questions. Print the tools and fold them into a handy wallet size. Keep your medication card up-to-date and share it with your pharmacist, doctor and nurse.

For information about medication safety and other patient safety topics, please visit safetoask.ca and browse through the S.A.F.E. Toolkit. You may also call 204-927-6477 or 1-866-927-6477.  


Learn to be safe!