#17 - 5 Things Every Patient Needs to Know About Their Medication

 Jill writes, when I have to teach my patient about their medications, I’m not sure how to narrow it down. What information do I have to include?

Jill, let me tell you a story.

Denise, a sophomore nursing student, was preparing to give medication teaching for the first time. Denise looked up everything she could find, and after 3 pages of notes, wondered how she was going to explain it all, without losing her patients attention. She had an entire page of adverse effects and was afraid that telling him everything that could happen would actually cause more harm than good.  

A nurse on the floor empathized with Denise, took her aside and gave her this quick lesson on how to teach patients about medications. Here’s what she told Denise. When you teach patients about medications, condense your lesson to *5 things. 

First of all, tell your patient, what you are giving him.

This could be the generic or trade name or even the class of medication. If the patient is unfamiliar with this drug, you might include all three.

The second thing you tell your patient is why you are giving it to him or why this was ordered by the provider.

If he’s taken this medication before, he will probably already know why but if he doesn’t, this will help him understand.

Third, tell your patient what this medication will do.

You are very briefly explaining the basic mechanism of action here. You’re telling your patient how the medication is supposed to help him.

The fourth thing you tell him is what could happen with this medication.

This is where you highlight the most common adverse effects that most people experience when they have an adverse effect to this drug.

And finally, you tell your patient what you are going to do about these potential risks.

This is where you elaborate on any monitoring or assessments you will need to make during or afterward administration.

 That day, Denise told her patient, she was giving him Lisinopril, a blood pressure medication because of his history of hypertension. This medication would lower his blood pressure. It’s possible that the medication could cause low blood pressure, an allergic reaction or a change in his potassium level. She told him she would be checking his vital signs and monitoring his blood pressure and labs. If he had any adverse effects, she told him to press his call light and let her know. She followed up the teaching by giving him a handout on the medication to read through later.

Denise learned that medication teaching is important, but teaching at the bedside is challenging and not always the best time or way for a patient to learn.

She learned to give just the most necessary and pertinent information verbally and give handouts for the rest.

Jill, I hope Denise’s story was helpful. Please like and share this video and as always, if you have a question about nursing school or life, Nursing School Masterclass can help!