Mystifying Medications

I’m a Type 2 diabetic with hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, heart problems and inflammation requiring steroid treatment.

At least, I have to act as though I am and take the medications appropriate for these conditions for the next few days. We recently were assigned a project for class that aims to try and help us understand how difficult it can be for patients to take multiple medications correctly when they all have different instructions.

 

We were given five different medications (placebo versions labeled as real medications) to take for these conditions and each one had very different instructions. Some have to be taken with meals, others not. Some need to be taken twice a day while others are only once a day. Most are only one pill a day, but one has a different number of pills for each day. Several of the medications have to be taken in the morning while others have to be taken at night.

Here's a summary of the medications and instructions (none of these are real medications):

• Glucozide (for blood sugar): 1 capsule twice daily with meals
• Cardiolol (heart): 1 capsule twice daily, roughly 12 hours apart
• Prednitab (steroid): 4 capsules on day 1, 3 capsules on day 2, 2 capsules on day 3, 1 capsule on day 4; all in the morning with food
• Lipistatin (cholesterol): 1 capsule every evening
• Thinsroid (thyroid): 1 capsule every morning on an empty stomach (at least 30mins before a meal)

I'm sure you can see how challenging it will be at times to correctly take all of these medications every day. In real life, I have two medications that I take every day that don't have any specific instructions and I have a hard time even remembering those - let alone adding the new five medications. I'll post again once I am done with this project as a report of how I did with taking all of the medications correctly.

The real value of this project, in my opinion, will be the reminder of what some patients have to go through just to take their medications correctly and why it is so frequent that medications aren't taken correctly or at all.  In all reality, if I truly had all of those health problems, I would be taking a lot more than five medications. Many patients are on 15+ medications, all with different requirements for how they should be taken. As future doctors, it's so important that we understand the difficulties patients can go through and not be quick to judge them for not following instructions perfectly. Many doctors don't even explain to patients just how to take their medications.

In modern medicine, with all of the incredible advancements we have, nothing will be treated effectively if the method of treatment is not understood and can't be followed. Simply taking a few extra minutes to be sure patients can follow medication instructions could make a world of difference in their treatment and effective care.