10 Questions to Ask Your Pharmacist

Female pharmacist helping a senior customer.

September 25 is World Pharmacists Day

Pharmacists are a bridge between you and your doctor. Your pharmacist might also be the health professional you see and talk to most often about your health.(1)

Pharmacists are trained to help you manage and improve your health every day. Your pharmacist—along with your doctor or nurse—can give you patient-centered answers to questions on many topics, including medicines and immunizations. They can also teach you practical skills, including how to use blood glucose monitors and asthma inhalers, and advise ways you can prepare your health for emergencies.What is patient-centered communication? Patient-centered communication acknowledges the whole person, their personality, life history, and social structure to develop a shared understanding of the problem, the goals of treatment, and the barriers to that treatment and wellness.

Here are some example questions you might ask your pharmacist the next time you visit the pharmacy.

  1. How do I prepare an emergency supply of medicines? Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about how you can create an emergency supply of medicines. Some states have emergency prescription refill laws that authorize pharmacists to refill a prescription before it’s due when under an emergency declaration. These laws vary by state. Learn more about the law where you live.
  2. What type of over-the-counter drugs should I include in my emergency supplies? Maintain an emergency supply of over-the-counter medicines, including pain and fever relievers, cough and cold suppressants, antihistamines, and antidiarrheal medicines in age-appropriate strengths.
  3. What kind of records should I keep with my important paperwork? Keep copies of all your prescriptions. You may need them in case you lose, run out, or damage your medicine. Having written records of your prescriptions makes it easier for another doctor to write a refill if you can’t reach your doctor or pharmacy during an evacuation or emergency.(2)
  4. How do I travel (e.g., evacuate) with medicine? Do not keep medicines in the glove compartment of your car. Keep them in their original containers. Keep the containers away from and out of sight of children and pets.(3, 4)
  5. How do I take care of my medicine during an emergency? Keep your medicines in a cool, dry place away from heat, air, light, and moisture.
  6. How do I store medicines safely at home and when traveling (e.g., evacuating) with children and pets? Any medicine, including those you buy without a prescription, can cause harm if taken in the wrong way or by the wrong person or a pet. Put your medicines up and away and out of reach and sight to prevent adverse drug effects.
  7. How do I keep medicines cold during a power outage? Use a cooler, ice, and chemical ice packs. If you use insulin to manage diabetes, try to keep your insulin as cool as possible without freezing it. Insulin that has been frozen can break down and is less effective. You can use insulin in opened or unopened vials that have been stored at room temperature (between 59°F and 86°F) for up to 4 weeks.(5)
  8. How do I judge the safety of medicine after an emergency? Do not take medicine that has changed color, texture, or smell, regardless of its expiration date. Also, do not take pills that stick together, are harder or softer than normal, or are cracked or chipped. Contact your pharmacist or healthcare provider if you are unsure about a drug’s safety. When in doubt, throw it out.(6)
  9. How do I safely dispose of expired, unwanted, unused, or damaged prescription medicines? The best way to dispose of most types of medicines is to drop them off at a drug take-back location.(7) This may be your local pharmacy or police station.
  10. What can I do if I am unable to take my medicine as prescribed because it was damaged? Can I share medicines with a friend or family member if they take the same kind? Medicines are only safe to use by the person whose name is on the prescription. You could experience an allergic reaction, an interaction with other medications, or other serious side effects from using someone else’s prescription medicine. People who share their drugs may experience side effects if they ration their supply to share with others.(8)

Make your pharmacist an important member of your healthcare team. Contact your local pharmacist or the FDA if you have questions about medicine.

FDA’s Division of Drug Information has pharmacists available to answer questions about drug use and safety. You contact them at 1-855-543-3784, druginfo@fda.hhs.gov, and on Twitter at @FDA_Drug_Info.

Learn more ways to prepare your medicine cabinet for emergencies.

References

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/pharmacist.htm
  2. https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2017/10/preparing-your-medicine-cabinet-for-an-emergency/
  3. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000534.htm
  4. https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/protect/campaign.html
  5. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/spotlights/managing-insulin-emergency.html
  6. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/emergency-preparedness-drugs/safe-drug-use-after-natural-disaster
  7. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/safe-disposal-medicines/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know
  8. https://health.gov/myhealthfinder/healthy-living/safety/use-medicines-safely

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that CDC does not give personal medical advice. If you are concerned you have a disease or condition, talk to your doctor.

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (https://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info/index.html) offers live agents by phone and email to help you find the latest, reliable, and science-based health information on more than 750 health topics.

Be Prepared to be Away During an Emergency

Kids hugging their mom before heading off to their first day of school.

July 24 is National Parents Day

Emergencies can happen anywhere, at any time, including when you’re not with your children and pets. It’s a scary thought. But you can take steps to protect them when you’re not around to do it yourself.

Camp & Childcare Parents

On any given weekday during the school year, an estimated 69 million children are in school and childcare.(1) During summer, some of those same children are in camps and childcare.

Parents, guardians, and other caregivers want to know their children are safe when they’re away from home. Camp and childcare providers play an important role in giving parents and guardians peace of mind. They should have family reunification plans and hold regular drills to help children and staff practice staying safe in the event of an emergency.

In addition, here are some ways you can prepare for an emergency that happens when you are not with your child.

Knowing camp or childcare providers have an emergency plan and the supplies they need to care for your child can help you feel better about leaving them in the care of others.

Pet Parents

Pets are family, too. It’s natural for pet parents to feel anxious about leaving their pet in the care of someone else, such as a pet sitter or kennel, or if you have someone nearby who can check in on them. Having someone who can check up on your pet if they are not somewhere safe can give you peace of mind.

Here are suggested steps you can take to help keep your pets healthy and safe if an emergency happens while you’re away.(2)

  • Make sure your pet has plenty of food. Write out feeding instructions, including portion size and other special considerations, such as the feeding order of multiple pets.
  • Check that your pet has enough medicine. Write out instructions for giving prescription medicines and where they’re kept. Keep medicines up and away from children and pets.
  • Write out your itinerary and contact information, including your cell phone number and the name and phone number of where you’re going.
  • Leave contact information for your veterinarian and one or two people you trust to make decisions in case you can’t be reached. Be sure to ask those people before you do this. Contact your veterinarian’s office to let them know you have a pet sitter.
  • Leave the pet sitter with copies of important paperwork, including a list of vaccinations and dates received.
  • Microchip your pet.
  • Make sure your pet wears collars and tags with up-to-date contact information and other identification.
  • Keep your pet’s carrier or crate near the exit. Tell the sitter where your pet might hide when it feels stressed or scared.
  • Prepare a pet emergency kit, including first-aid supplies and detailed instructions on how to use it.
  • Leave instructions about your home, such as garage door codes, utility shutoff instructions, and your neighbor’s names and phone numbers.

Prepping your pet sitter or a person you trust to check in on your pet can help ensure that your pet gets the best possible care when you’re away.

Reuniting After an Emergency

Separation from one’s family during or after an emergency can have mental and physical effects on everyone involved, including parents and guardians, children, and pets.

Reunification is the process of returning children and pets to their families as quickly as possible after an emergency. The faster reunification happens after an emergency, the better.

Learn more about reuniting with loved ones after an emergency.

References

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/childrenindisasters/reunification.html
  2. https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/keeping-pets-and-people-healthy/emergencies.html

Resources

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that CDC does not give personal medical advice. If you are concerned you have a disease or condition, talk to your doctor.

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (http://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info/index.html) offers live agents by phone and email to help you find the latest, reliable, and science-based health information on more than 750 health topics.

Rx Prep: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is October 23

Many of us have a medicine cabinet in our homes. It may contain first-aid supplies, personal hygiene items, prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and other personal needs.

Keep tabs on your medicines to help you keep them out of the wrong hands. Each year in the United States, more than 1 million people visit emergency departments for an adverse drug event. An adverse drug events (ADE) is when someone is harmed by a medicine.(1)

Blood thinners, antibiotics, diabetes drugs, and opioid analgesics are the leading cause of emergency department visits for ADEs.(2)

Practicing safe storage and proper disposal of prescription medicines can help keep your family safe and healthy.

Up and Away

Toddlers can be harmed if they get into medicines when no adult is watching. Approximately 50,000 children younger than 5 years old go to emergency departments each year for an ADE.(3)

Emergency visits for kids and pets, too, are preventable if people put medicines up and away after every use. Here are some safe medicine storage practices:

  • Put medicine and vitamins up and away and out of children’s reach and sight.
  • Put medicine and vitamins away every time.
  • At home or away, keep medicines in their original, child-resistant containers.
  • Never leave loose pills or liquid medicine out on a counter, table, or child’s bedside.
  • Lock the safety cap.
  • Teach your children about medicine safety.
  • Ask guests to keep purses, bags, or coats that have medicine in them out of children’s reach and sight when they are in your home.
  • Prepare for an emergency. Create an Emergency Action Plan that includes important contact information, such as phone numbers for your physician, pharmacist, veterinarian, and the Poison Control Center: 800-222-1222.(4)

Learn more about safe medicine storage.

Drug disposal

It’s important that you safely dispose of expired, unwanted, or unused prescription medicines. There are several ways to do that.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is a semiannual event held in October and April. The campaign teaches people how to dispose of medicines and provides safe and secure locations where they can dispose of their medicines.(5)

The best way to dispose of most types of medicines is to drop them off at a drug take back location.(6) This may be your local pharmacy or police station.

There are other drug disposal options if you cannot get to a Take Back Day location. Flush medicines on the FDA flush list down the toilet. If a child, adult, or pet in your home ingests, touches, misuses, or abuses a medicine on the flush list, they could suffer serious consequences or die.(7)

Dispose of medicines that are not on the flush list in your home trash.

  1. Mix medicines (liquid or pills; do not crush tablets or capsules) with an unappealing substance such as dirt, cat litter, or coffee grounds.
  2. Place the mixture in a container such as a sealed plastic bag.
  3. Throw away the container in your trash at home.
  4. Remove personal information from the label of empty medicine bottles and packaging. Throw away or recycle the bottle or packaging.(8)

Learn more about the safe disposal of medicines.

Resources

References

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/basics.html
  2. https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/program_focus_activities.html
  3. https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/parents_childrenadversedrugevents.html
  4. https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/protect/campaign.html
  5. https://takebackday.dea.gov/
  6. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/safe-disposal-medicines/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know
  7. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know/drug-disposal-fdas-flush-list-certain-medicines
  8. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know/drug-disposal-dispose-non-flush-list-medicine-trash