Fort HealthCare encourages everyone to carry an up-to-date safe medication card with them at all times that can be referenced quickly.
Keeping a list of your medications is a way for you to be more involved with your healthcare, and to safely prepare for medical emergencies.
It is important that you keep track of both prescription and non-prescription medications you take, including vitamins, supplements or herbal remedies.
An easy-to-reference list is helpful when communicating with emergency responders, or for family members when they are asked to help fill out a medical history at the doctor’s office. Healthcare providers are often concerned that a patient is taking medicine that will have a negative reaction with a drug administered in an emergency room. The more known about a patient, the faster they can be treated.
It is also important to share your safe medication list with your pharmacists, especially if you use more than one or order prescriptions through the Internet. All of your healthcare providers (physicians, nurses and pharmacists) work together to keep you safe and avoid dangerous drug interactions.
A completed list of medications should include:
- Full name of each prescription, over-the-counter medication, vitamin or herbal supplement you take
- Amount that you take
- Times of day you take each medication
- Reason for taking a medication
- Start date for taking each
- Pharmacy’s phone number where you buy each medication
- Medications and foods you can’t take because of allergy or intolerance, describing your reaction
The medication card offered through Fort HealthCare also recommends tracking recent vaccinations, names and contact information for your healthcare providers, and any allergies you may have. The card folds down into a convenient business card size so it fits neatly into a wallet or purse.
If you don’t already have one, you can obtain a medication card from any Fort HealthCare clinic, the Fort Memorial Hospital Information Desk or the Volunteer Services office.