Dr Brendan Beaton: Going to hospital – What to do before going to hospital
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Dr Brendan Beaton
Main occupation: Haematology registrar/fellow
Years in clinical practice: 10
Qualifications: MBBS
Dr Brendan Beaton, haematologist, explains that it is helpful if patients have a medicines list or if they bring all their medicines and a family member or carer with them.
You ask a patient what medication they are on; sometimes they remember, most of the time they don't or they can remember some of the medicines that they are on. And most of the patients, particularly the more elderly patients that I see, are on multiple, different drugs and it's difficult for them to remember them all.
Often it's very helpful if they have a list. They pull out the list and they show you what they're on. Or I always encourage a patient, if they are coming into hospital or they're coming in to our clinic, to always bring their medications with them that they are taking, because this can change, people can forget what's on or not on the list.
But if the physical medication is there, then they can actively say, ‘Oh, well I take two of this in the morning and one of these.’ Some patients have a Webster-pak that they bring in with them, which is incredibly helpful, because it’s all listed there. And you observe if they have or haven't been at least dispensing the medication for themselves. So I ask them about that, what they're taking. I ask them if they've had any problems with the medication that they're taking, if they're having any side effects that they attribute to it ... [A family member or carer] is often an extra memory. Between the patient and the carer, they can remember more of what's happened. It's also an additional memory if you say, ‘Please bring your medications next time.’ And you can sort of make it the responsibility of the carer, ‘Can you make sure that they come in with their medicines next time?’ They always will.
I think people like being given instructions, because they think that it's a way to be useful and to help and I think it is very helpful. I think that's important. A carer that is insightful and perceptive can often notice that, you know, that the person taking the medicines might not be coping with the big tablet. They might notice that things aren't being taken or they might say ‘Hey, they're really struggling. They have to take all these tablets and it takes them, you know, 10 or 20 minutes to get through them all.’
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in
collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.