The patient went to the pharmacy clinic to consult a professional pharmacist if he could not understand what medicine to take. Photographed by Yu Hui

"With so many kinds of drugs, how should we take them?" "When is the best time to take them?" "What drugs and food can't be taken together?" "Can sustained release preparations and controlled release preparations be taken separately?"

Many patients received medicine in the hospital pharmacy, listened to the doctor's advice, but turned to look at a pile of drugs or lost. As the saying goes, "medicine is divided into three kinds of poisons", and different drugs are mutually reinforcing. If taken improperly, it is likely to bring negative effects.

Changchun People's Hospital has opened a free pharmacy clinic to let patients take their medicine plainly. Recently, the reporter saw in the pharmacy clinic that the questions encountered by patients in the process of medication were answered by professional pharmacists for free every Monday to Friday morning, to sort out the medication situation for patients, put forward medication suggestions and lifestyle guidance, so that the seemingly "cold" pharmacy clinic has welcomed "repeat customers", improving the accuracy of patients' medication.

Pharmacy clinic makes taking medicine easy

"My home is very close to the hospital, and I would go here to ask if there is any medicine I don't understand..." In the pharmacy clinic on the first floor of the outpatient clinic of the People's Hospital, Aunt Yao, a citizen, was consulting the pharmacist with the newly prescribed medicine. Seeing the reporter coming to interview, the old man happily expressed his approval of the pharmacy clinic.

Anyone who has ever seen a doctor knows that in the "hot" departments of major hospitals, doctors usually only have a few minutes for each patient to consult in order to treat more patients. "I wanted to go back to the consulting room after I had prescribed medicine, but when I got to the door of the consulting room, I saw people queuing for treatment, and I was embarrassed to ask more..." Aunt Yao said about her past medical experience.

It is no accident that patients do not know how to take medicine after seeing a doctor and taking medicine. In particular, if several drugs are taken every day, whether there is any repetition between the effects, and how long is the interval between each drug. It will add a lot of trouble for patients to return to the consulting room to ask doctors because of these problems.

Patients can consult the pharmacy clinic about the usage and dosage of drugs and precautions. If multiple diseases are used together, the professional medication guidance of pharmacists can effectively reduce the randomness of patients' medication, thus avoiding the harm of adverse drug reactions and improving drug efficacy.

Guiding patients to use drugs scientifically and rationally to reduce drug risks

"There are many patients who have overdosed drugs." Li Bo, a pharmacist, said that she once received an old man. Because of the large fluctuation of blood pressure, the old man came to the pharmacy clinic for consultation with a medicine kit after seeing the doctor and prescribing drugs.

During the chat, the old man accidentally mentioned a medicine. Li Bo confirmed that the medicine she said was bought by her in the drugstore. Because it also contains antihypertensive ingredients, the old man took two antihypertensive drugs at the same time without understanding. Over a long period of time, blood pressure fluctuates greatly due to excessive dosage.

"Hypertension patients are usually accompanied by vascular sclerosis. Long term fluctuations in blood pressure will make blood vessels very fragile, and have a great impact on patients' heart, brain, kidney and other important organs," said Li Bo. Under her reminding, the old man immediately realized the medication mistake, and monitored his blood pressure and used drugs rationally every day as per the doctor's advice.

"I have made such a mistake before. I listen to people around me and take whatever medicine they say is good," said Aunt Wu, a patient waiting in line for consultation on medication. Aunt Wu has suffered from diabetes and hypertension for many years. She takes medicine more seriously than she eats. When her blood sugar and blood pressure are not well controlled, she will listen to friends' recommendations and take more antihypertensive drugs. After taking the medicine for more than a month, her blood pressure kept normal. Aunt Wu was very happy. But before long, Aunt Wu felt that her legs were weak and she always wanted to sleep. Once she came to the hospital to prescribe medicine, Aunt Wu told the pharmacist about her troubles. Soon, Aunt Wu found the reason for her weak legs. It turned out that Aunt Wu, on the basis of taking normal antihypertensive drugs, used another drug on her own initiative. She took two antihypertensive drugs for more than a month, which caused the loss of potassium ions in her body and the loss of strength in her legs.

At the suggestion of the pharmacist, Aunt Wu carried out relevant tests and found that her blood potassium value was very low. After the communication between the pharmacist and the clinician, the prescription of antihypertensive drugs was adjusted again for Aunt Wu, and at the same time, potassium supplement treatment was carried out. "You can take medicine according to the doctor's advice, and you can't take it by yourself." Aunt Wu said that the condition of physical discomfort caused by adding medicine at will was thanks to timely communication with the pharmacist, so that she could avoid detours in seeking medical advice.

Now, Aunt Wu always takes medicine according to the doctor's advice. If she doesn't understand which kind of medicine to take, she will take it only after understanding it.

"Many patients with chronic diseases do not follow the doctor's advice to change their medicine, do not use the medicine at the specified time, and change the dosage at will, which is likely to bring about health risks, especially the coexistence of multiple diseases and multiple drugs among the elderly, which is likely to lead to adverse drug reactions. With the correct guidance of pharmacists, the risk of drug use can be greatly reduced." Xu Ping, director of the pharmacy department of Changchun People's Hospital, warned.

Whether the pills can be taken apart is also a "university question"

In order to achieve "professional expertise" and better meet the needs of various patients for medication consultation, the pharmacy clinic of Changchun People's Hospital directly provides pharmaceutical services to patients. Experienced clinical pharmacists and pharmacists with senior professional titles make outpatient visits to provide patients with professional pharmaceutical services such as medication assessment, medication consultation, medication education, etc.

In the pharmacy outpatient clinic, pharmacists often encounter patients like this: "Doctor, I have a history of hypertension, and I usually insist on taking antihypertensive drugs. Recently, my blood pressure has fluctuated, and sometimes I feel dizzy. What's the matter. After further inquiry, the patient took nifedipine sustained-release tablets as the antihypertensive drug. As a result, the blood pressure is unstable due to taking the pills apart.

"Sustained release tablets and controlled release tablets can't be taken apart. Although these are common sense, some patients will really eat them wrong." Pharmacist Zhang Hong said that in order to achieve long-term effect, antihypertensive drugs are often made into sustained release tablets and controlled release tablets. The drug release speed is controlled through a special controlled release diaphragm. When the drug is broken, the diaphragm is damaged, and the drug release system loses its effect, The drug effect will be released quickly in a short time, thus losing the effect of long-term blood pressure reduction.

"Many people don't understand the basic knowledge of drug use, and most of them can come to the outpatient clinic for consultation when they don't understand drugs." Pharmacist Zhao Qinglan said that the pharmacy outpatient clinic is not limited to patients who come to the hospital to see doctors and prescribe drugs. In order to popularize more pharmaceutical knowledge, even patients who buy drugs by themselves can't understand the instructions and are not sure how to take them, they can go to the pharmacy outpatient clinic for consultation.

"Unusual" departments also have "repeat customers"

In the interview, pharmacists frankly said that the number of consultation and visits in pharmaceutical outpatient clinics is far less than that in other outpatient clinics. Although "the department is very cold", pharmacists guide patients to "take the right medicine" and "take the medicine right" every time they open a clinic, gradually improving the patients' awareness of the correct use of drugs, with a sense of achievement. The pharmacists are especially pleased that the pharmacy clinic can receive "repeat customers" every day.

"I was impressed by a patient who came to the pharmacy clinic for three times within two months after the opening of the clinic. The first time he came to consult about the medication for hypertension and dizziness, we suggested that the patient's blood pressure should be stable after he cut off or even stopped the unreliable health care products. The second time, we asked about blood sugar control. From the perspective of nutrition, we taught patients the concepts of calorie control and food exchange, helping them learn to manage diet and control blood sugar. The patient who tasted the "sweet" asked about the medication of other diseases for the third time. " Xu Ping said that after truly realizing the patient service of professional pharmacists, many patients have fully trusted and relied on their professional medication guidance.

Since its opening in July 2021, the pharmacy clinic of the hospital has been able to answer the inquiries of dozens of patients every day. This convenient service not only improves the safety and treatment effect of patients' medication, avoids the occurrence of adverse reactions, but also slows down the workload of outpatient doctors, improves patients' medication compliance, and ensures drug efficacy and medication safety.