A/Prof Sarah Hilmer: Going to hospital – Going home from hospital

Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.

A/Prof Sarah Hilmer
Main occupation: Clinical pharmacologist
Years in clinical practice at interview: 16
Qualifications: BScMed (Hons), MBBS (Hons), FRACP, PhD

Associate Professor Sarah Hilmer, clinical pharmacologist and geriatrician, explains what people need to do with respect to their medicines once they go home from hospital, particularly if their medicines regimen has been altered.

Associate Professor Hilmer:

What they should do is go and see their general practitioner as soon as possible. The hospitals usually only provide a few days' worth of discharge medicines, and it can be very confusing to come home and have one handful of medicines from the hospital and your cupboard full of medicines from before and not quite know what you are supposed to be taking. So they should really take their discharge letter and make an appointment to see their doctor as soon as possible, and make sure that they and their doctor are clear on what they should be taking and how they should be taking it.

Jacqueline:

So, those medicines that they’re given when they leave hospital, they should continue taking them and not what they've got in the cupboard at home? Is that …?

Associate Professor Hilmer:

That's right. That's right, and it's really important not to double up. And people do sometimes run into trouble because they'll be given something in hospital that is a different brand name of the same thing they have at home. They may not appreciate that's the same drug and they'll go home and take both and wind up double dosing.

 

Taking complementary medicines in hospital

People need to tell the doctor they see in hospital that they are taking complementary medicines, such as supplements or preparations dispensed by an alternative practitioner. Hospitals vary in how they deal with patients taking their own complementary medicines and in their tolerance towards complementary medicines in general. Some patients may have to stop the complementary medicines, whereas others may find that the nurses chart their complementary medicines and check that they have been taken. However, if there is no reason to do so and it is within the policy of the hospital, they can continue to take them.

 
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The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.