Never assume
Here’s a couple of interventions that I have made recently, just proving the point that even on repeat prescriptions you can never assume that the patient is taking them correctly.
The patient who had a dose increase on fluoxetine. To make sure, I checked that she knew to take it in the morning (since the script was labelled one daily). ‘Well I do now’ she said. ‘No-one told me when I first starting taking it, so I took it at night and didn’t sleep for a week!’
The parents of a baby girl who had recently been started on a small prophylactic dose of cefalexin suspension. On giving the bottle out, I asked if they knew that it expired in 14 days and to throw the remainder away and get a fresh supply. Yes they replied, they had eventually worked that out for themselves but thanked me very much for pointing it out straightaway.
The patient who had a dose increase on fluoxetine. To make sure, I checked that she knew to take it in the morning (since the script was labelled one daily). ‘Well I do now’ she said. ‘No-one told me when I first starting taking it, so I took it at night and didn’t sleep for a week!’
The parents of a baby girl who had recently been started on a small prophylactic dose of cefalexin suspension. On giving the bottle out, I asked if they knew that it expired in 14 days and to throw the remainder away and get a fresh supply. Yes they replied, they had eventually worked that out for themselves but thanked me very much for pointing it out straightaway.
posted by Dee Spencer at 11:21 am
1 Comments:
The fluoxetine is a tricky one as it can cause drowsiness. But depression can also cause fatigue and lethargy, as well as sleep disturbances. I advise my patients to take SSRIs in the morning, with food (to reduce GI effects), but if they find it does make them drowsy then try taking it at night.
And assume makes an ass out of u and me.
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