Dr Elisabeth Wearne: Starting and changing medicines
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Dr Elisabeth Wearne
Main occupation: General practitioner
Years in clinical practice: 7
Qualifications: MBBS, FRACGP
Dr Elisabeth Wearne, GP, believes that generic brands of medicines can confuse some patients. She feels that communication between patients, their GP and their pharmacist is important to reduce this confusion.
Dr Wearne:
I used to think it was really just the very frail and elderly, but it's actually not. It's anyone who gets a bit prone to getting confused with names and I've had people in their 20s who have struggled to understand different brand names for the same drug. It's a very complex process. Even ... I remember having a conversation with a pharmacist about what a generic medication was. His understanding of what a generic medication was, was totally different to my understanding, so I think, if it's hard for us to navigate, it's horrible for patients to navigate.
Jacqueline:
So what kinds of things have helped patients who are confused about brand names or ...?
Dr Wearne:
Yep, I certainly think … being able to stipulate that the pharmacist shouldn't substitute for that patient and explaining that to the patient … saying, ‘Look, I’m going to try to ensure that the pharmacist gives you exactly what's been prescribed.’ I think having written communication between you and the patient and the pharmacy is really important.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in
collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.