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Consumer
Education: Ensuring Safe Use of Medicine
By being an informed
consumer and being involved in your health care, you can decrease the risks and get the
most benefits from your medicine. The following materials will help you, working with your
health care professionals, to
make informed choices
when using medicine.
To obtain printed copies of any of these materials, please email your request by title
to: dpapubs@fda.hhs.gov. You can also call
301-796-3703 or 1-888-INFO-FDA.
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The following links are text documents. You can also view the
graphic versions (if available) by going to the "All
Graphics and Other Media" page. |
General Use of Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medicine
- "Be An Active Member of Your Health Care Team." This 12-page pamphlet describes how to become an active member of your health care team and to work with your teammates to make medicine use SAFER. It also includes an expanded question guide to help you gather information about your medicines with your health care team. (Done in cooperation with the Council on Family Health)
- En Español
"Sea un miembro activo de su equipo de atención médica." This 12-page pamphlet describes how to become an active member of your health care team and to work with your teammates to make medicine use SAFER. It also includes a question guide to help you gather information about your medicines with your health care team. (Done in cooperation with the Council on Family Health)
- "Be An Active Member of Your Health Care Team." This shorter, 8-panel brochure provides tips on how to become more active in your health care to help increase the benefits and reduce the risks from medicine use. It also includes a question guide to help you gather information about your medicines.
- En Español
"Sea Miembro Activo del Equipo de Cuidados de la Salud." This shorter, 8-panel brochure provides tips on how to become more active in your health care to help increase the benefits and reduce the risks from medicine use. It also includes a question guide to help you gather information about your medicines.
- "Be An Active Member Of Your Health Care Team." This short article discusses the ways consumers can be more actively involved in the decisions about and use of their medicines.
- "My Medicine Record." Keep track of your prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements. Includes a chart, space for personal information, questions you should ask your health professionals and instructions.
- "Think It Through: A Guide to Managing the Benefits and Risks of Medicines." This brochure explains benefits and risks and discusses how to "think it through" to make a benefit/risk decision about a medicine. It provides many specific ways you can help to lower the risks and get the full benefits of medicines. (Done in cooperation with the Partnership for Safe Medication Use.)
- ""Think It Through" To Manage The Benefits And Risks Of All Medicines." This short article discusses making benefit/risk decisions about medicine.
- "Check Your Medicines-Tips for Using Medicines Safely" This one pager has five simple checks you can make to help make medicine use safer. (Developed in collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ].)
- "Tips for Talking with Your Pharmacist - to learn how to use medicines safely." This brochure has tips to help you in the pharmacy -- what to tell and ask your pharmacist, and what to do after you get the medicine from your pharmacist.
- "6 Tips to Avoid Medication Mistakes." This Consumer Update article from June 2007 has six tips to help use medicine more safely.
- "Drug Interactions: What You Should Know." This 10 page brochure discusses the precautions that need to be used when taking more than one over-the-counter medicine. There is also a chart listing several OTC drugs and common interactions. (Done in cooperation with Council on Family Health and National Consumers League) For single copies, contact Federal Citizen Information Center, Item #527M, Pueblo, CO 81009 www.pueblo.gsa.gov.
- En Español "Interacciones de Medicamentos: Lo Que Usted Debe Saber." This 10 page brochure discusses the precautions that need to be used when taking more than one over-the-counter medicine. There is also a chart listing several OTC drugs and common interactions. (Done in cooperation with Council on Family Health and National Consumers League)
- "Preventing Serious Drug Interactions." This FDA Consumer article from July/August 2004, provides information on the types of drug interactions, monitoring drug interactions before and after the drug's approval, and how to reduce the risk from drug interactions.
- "MyBloodThinner.org" - For Safe Use of Oral Anticoagulants. This link will take you off FDA's site to a SOS Rx Web site. This site contains materials to help patients, caregivers, and health care professionals use anticoagulants (medicines used to thin the blood) taken orally more safely. The English and Spanish materials were developed by the SOS Rx Coalition, a group of over 80 organizations dedicated to promoting the safe use of medicines. FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research is a contributing member.
- "Protect Yourself Against Tampering." This 4" x 9" "slim jim" provides consumers with six easy tips they can take to recognize and protect themselves and their family against over-the-counter medical product tampering. (Done in cooperation with the Council on Family Health and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association).
Driving When You Are Using Medicine
- "Driving When You Are Taking Medications." This 8-panel brochure discusses how medicine may affect your ability to drive safely. It also covers how to talk and work with your health care professionals to decrease the risks. (Done in cooperation with the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
- En Español "El impacto de manejar cuando esta tomando medicamentos." This 8-panel brochure discusses how medicine may affect your ability to drive safely. It also covers how to talk and work with your health care professionals to decrease the risks. (Done in cooperation with the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
- "Some Medications and Driving Don't Mix" This Consumer Update article from December 2008 discusses how to avoid risks from some prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines that can make driving unsafe.
Safe Use of Medicines for Seniors
- "Medicines and You: A Guide for Older Adults." This guide provides practical information for older adults about the use of prescription and nonprescription medicines. It gives facts about drug interactions, tips for safe medicine use and talking to health professionals, and ways to help lower medicine costs. (Done in cooperation with the Council on Family Health)
- En Español "Los medicamentos y usted: Guía para adultos de más edad." This guide provides practical information for older adults about the use of prescription and nonprescription medicines. It gives facts about drug interactions, tips for safe medicine use and talking to health professionals, and ways to help lower medicine costs. (Done in cooperation with the Council on Family Health)
- "As You Age...A Guide to Aging, Medicines, and Alcohol."
This 8-page pamphlet explains how our bodies handle medicine differently as we age. It describes steps to take on your own, signs that there is a problem, and how to talk with your doctor or other trusted health care professionals. It includes a chart for keeping track of the medicine and dietary supplements you use.
- "As You Age...A Guide to Aging, Medicines, and Alcohol." This link will take you off FDA's site to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Web site. You will find information on the public education campaign launched by SAMHSA, FDA and the Administration on Aging. This campaign was developed to warn older adults about the dangers of misusing medications or mixing them with alcohol. Federal agency Web sites, other Web resources, and hotline numbers are also listed there.
- "Medication Use and Older Adults." This FDA Consumer article from July/August 2006, provides information on how to stick with a medication plan, manage side effects from medications, reduce medication errors, and keep track of your medications with a brown bag check up. It also includes helpful tips for safe medicine use by seniors.
Safe Disposal of Medicines
- "How to Dispose of Unused Medicines." This Consumer Update article from June 2008 gives some tips for disposing safely of expired medicines and medicines you no longer need.
All graphics and other media on Ensuring Safe Use of Medicine
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Date created: August 26, 2004, updated December 17, 2008 |
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