UNMC Pharmacy Students to Offer Free Glucose, Cholesterol
Screenings to Promote Increasing Role of Pharmacists in Nations Health
Americans spend more than $75 billion per year on prescription and nonprescription
drugs, according to the American Pharmaceutical Association. Pharmacists
estimate that of the 1.6 billion prescriptions written every year, half
are taken incorrectly. Among the elderly, who take many more medications,
about 55 percent are taken incorrectly.
Some people believe that if one dose is good, two must be better, and
they take too much. Others take daily medicines only when symptoms occur,
while some take “drug holidays”– two- to four-day interruptions in their
medications — without considering the risk of consequences.
University of Nebraska Medical Center pharmacy students will celebrate
National Pharmacy Week Oct. 22-28, to promote the role of pharmacists in
the nations health and encourage people to take charge in preventing all-too-common
medication errors. The UNMC American Pharmaceutical Association Academy
of Students of Pharmacy is sponsoring a free public activity as well as
student events on-campus.
On Friday, Oct. 27, from 3:30 to 7 p.m., students will hold free glucose
and cholesterol screenings at Bakers Supermarket at 156th & Dodge
Streets. They also will have information available about the role pharmacists
play in disease prevention and management. People can also ask questions
about their medications.
The students also will be available to answer questions on how to store
medications safely, what questions to ask pharmacists and which non-prescription
medicines should not be taken with prescription medication.
Pharmacists are an important resource for preventive care and managing
health problems like diabetes and high cholesterol, said Sara Burda, UNMC
pharmacy student. Pharmacists help eliminate unnecessary costs by improving
medicine use. Improper use of prescription medicines, due to lack of knowledge,
costs the economy an estimated $20-100 billion per year.
Pharmacists now are playing a more collaborative role with physicians
in deciding how best to treat patients. Pharmacies also are expanding their
roles within the health care delivery system from a profession focusing
on preparation and dispensing of medications to one that promotes a range
of patient-oriented services to maximize the medicines effectiveness.
Some of the advice the future pharmacists want to give people is: take
the time to ask the pharmacist about medications, take medications as directed
and throw out old medications. With more drive-through pharmacies emerging,
pharmacists are under more pressure to count and dispense medications faster,
say students, and the chance for medications errors increases.
The service is convenient, said Niki Frates, UNMC pharmacy student,
but like at any pharmacy, medication errors can occur, so its another
reason people need to check their medications and ask questions.
The American Pharmaceutical Association estimates that U.S. businesses
lose 20 million workdays per year due to incorrect use of medicines prescribed
for heart and circulatory diseases alone. The failure to have prescriptions
dispensed and/or renewed has resulted in an estimated cost of $8.5 billion
for increased hospital admissions and physician visits — nearly one percent
of the country’s total health care expenditures.
In addition, in the past 10 years, the status of 34 medications has
gone from prescription to non-prescription or over-the-counter. A national
poll shows people dont always treat over-the-counter pain relievers as
serious medicines as one-half do not always read product labels, according
to the association.
For information about avoiding medication errors, ask a pharmacist or
see the American Pharmaceutical Associations web site at www.pharmacyandyou.org.