March 9, 2016: NEWS RELEASE - Making sense of your medications
Toronto, Canada — Our healthcare system can be an incredibly complex place, even for someone who works in pharmacy.Like many of us, Ms. Emily Musing, who is the Executive Director of Pharmacy, Clinical Risk and Quality at the University Health Network, was faced with helping her own parents and in-laws access medical care in different care settings and with different care providers. With each visit, they found it challenging to keep track of what was happening with their medications. To assist them, Emily developed a set of questions for them to ask their doctors. It was designed to help them understand what to do with their medications once they left the office or the hospital, which would also help facilitate the conversation with their next care provider.
Inspired by Ms. Musing’s experience of navigating her parents and in-laws through the healthcare system, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Patients for Patient Safety Canada, the Canadian Pharmacists Association and the Canadian Society for Hospital Pharmacists have collaborated to develop a set of five questions to help consumers and their caregivers start a conversation about medications to improve communications with their healthcare provider. These five questions were tested by multiple stakeholders. Read more ...
