If a refilled prescription contains a blue pill when they've taken a white pill in the past, they can check the book. The PDR Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs is an inexpensive reference that has color photographs of drugs for easy identification. Tell patients to use one pharmacy for all their prescriptions. All these drugs can interact dangerously. Most pharmacists use computer systems that alert them to possible adverse drug interactions from all the medications.
Many patients use online pharmacies.
Hundreds of Web sites now dispense drugs, but not all are legitimate. The patient could get a contaminated or counterfeit product. Their presence on hospital rounds has been shown to reduce the rate of adverse drug events that stem from physicians' prescribing errors. Having a pharmacist on-call after hours also can save the nursing supervisor from having to enter an unfamiliar pharmacy to obtain a newly ordered drug. A pharmacist also can help nurses clarify dose calculations or explain possible drug interactions.