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Medication Histories

Medication histories are important in preventing prescription errors and consequent risks to patients. Apart from preventing prescription errors, accurate medication histories are also useful in detecting drug-related pathology or changes in clinical signs that may be the result of drug therapy.

According to this 2009 Br J Clin Pharmacol article entitled Medication errors: the importance of an accurate drug history by Richard J. FitzGeraldhere are a few of the reported reasons for taking an accurate medication history:

  1. A knowledge of the drugs a patient has taken in the past or is currently taking and of the responses to those drugs will help in planning future treatment.
  2. Drug effects should always be on the list of differential diagnoses, since drugs can cause illness or disease, either directly or as a result of an interaction.
  3. Drugs can mask clinical signs. For example, β‐adrenoceptor antagonists can prevent tachycardia in a patient with hemorrhage, and corticosteroids can prevent abdominal pain and rigidity in a patient with a perforated duodenal ulcer.
  4. Drugs can alter the results of investigations. For example, amiodarone alters thyroid function tests.
  5. To take the opportunity to educate the patient about their medications.
  6. To help avoid preventable errors in prescribing, since an inaccurate history on admission to hospital may lead to unwanted duplication of drugs, drug interactions, discontinuation of long‐term medications, and failure to detect drug‐related problems.

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