Got the RIGHT prescription?

One of my pet-peeves is detail which in many cases is an annoyance (lol); however, sometimes it can be a blessing.. like it was today!

My mom is disabled and over the past couple of years her eyes have gotten worse; and she was messing up distributing her medication into the weekly slots, so I started doing it for her.  I didn't want her to not add medicines or add too much by mistake... medication isn't to be played with when you have health issues and allergies to some medications (or any other times for that matter)!

You have to understand that she takes A LOT of medication and this wouldn't be hard to do, and she's had a mix-up before that wasn't fun.  I keep all of the bottles, even if they are empty, when I call in refills so that I can verify that the dosage and everything match what she has been taking and if any are left I make sure the pill looks the same.... I have opened a the new bottle on multiple occasions to see a different pill.  Most of the time they put a label on the bottle letting you know that the color, size, or shape has changed so that you know.  However, I have called  before to be sure because there wasn't a label and I wanted to be sure that there had not been a mix-up.. after-all the people at the pharmacy are human too, we all make mistakes.

I went and picked up about 10 prescriptions on Monday for my mom, but he medicine dispenser was filled until this afternoon so I waited to fill it today.

As I was finishing her bottles with only 2 to go, I realized that one of her medicines had not been refilled... So, I looked at the bag to see if there was a note letting me know why they didn't fill it, but there wasn't one.  So, I picked up the other bottle to see if it was it.  It wasn't!

As I looked at this bottle there was no refill bottle to match and I didn't recognize the name of the medication... hmmm, weird!

So, I asked my mom if the doctor had put her on something new or changed one of her meds.  Usually I take her to doctors appointments, but once in a while my aunt does, so I wanted to ask.  As I waited for her to respond, I noticed that I didn't recognize the Doctor's name who prescribed the medication either... So, I got on the phone to the Pharmacy to see what was going on!!

I asked to speak to the pharmacist who had filled the medication, and explained that I didn't recognize the name of this medication nor the doctor who had prescribed it.  He asked for my moms information and then put me on hold briefly to see what was going on....

After returning to the phone, he explained to me that the hard copy of the prescription had been filed under the wrong name.. my moms!!  This was someone else's medication....

WOW!  I'm SO glad for my attention to detail and habit to always check these little things today!!

I know we all make mistakes, but this could have been very dangerous!!  I thought about all the older people and people who have trouble with their eyesight who distribute their own medicine and many of them would have just put in in the slot because they seen their name on it.

If they were allergic or have medical problems that could not have that medication with.. it would be BAD!!

So, PLEASE pay attention to your/or someone you love's prescription before giving/taking them because you never know when a mistake has been made!!  :)  Glad I caught ours!!