Red Lake IHS Hospital

Mission  Statement:  It is the mission of the Red Lake Pharmacy to provide exceptional services that maximize safe medication use by our patients and customers.

PATIENT SAFETY
It's Everyone's Business

How can you help to prevent medication errors?

As you know, medications can be unsafe and dan-gerous if taken at the wrong time and in the wrong combination. Many things can go wrong at a clinic visit that may contribute to a medication error. A few common errors and strategies to reduce these errors are listed below. Most of these common errors can be prevented by communication with your healthcare providers AND by personal knowledge of your health history.

Wrong patient: these errors can occur if you have the same or similar name of another pa-tient. You can help your providers if you always identify yourself by your first and last name.

Wrong pill: these errors occur when an order is not read correctly by your provider. Many things can cause this (distractions, poor handwrit-ing, and drug names). These errors can be re-duced by education. Try to make an effort to pick-up your own pills at the pharmacy. Ask questions of your providers. Why am I taking this? What are the side effects? How long will I be on this?

Allergy: you know the most about you! It is important to let your healthcare provider know if you are allergic to any medications. This will help him/her avoid giving you a pill that you are allergic to or one that is related.

You’re taking your pills differently than the doctor prescribed.: this error happens a lot. If you are in the hospital or see another provider, we need to know what changes they made to your medications. This will help us to avoid unnecessary changes in your pills.

You are taking other over the counter medications, food supplements, or herbals: it is also important that you let the healthcare provider know of any over the counter medications, food supplements, or herbals that you may be taking. You should also let your provider know if there are any changes in your health (example=if you are pregnant or a new diabetic).

Take the Medication Safety Pledge!

Medications may be needed to improve your health. They are often used to treat diabetes, heart disease, infection, etc. By working with a partner on your healthcare team, you can learn to use drugs safely and appropriately and to reduce medication errors. Partners can include nurses, doctors, pharmacists, den-tists, lab, xray, and medical assistants. A few important points on the pledge include:

• Tell ALL caregivers about your food or drug allergies Learn about all of your drugs, including strength, dose, name, and why you take the medication.
• Tell all caregivers about new medica-tions ordered by a different caregiver.
• Identify yourself before taking any type of drug offered by a nurse, doctor, or pharmacist.
• Tell your doctor if there is a problem ANY problem with your medications.
• Never share your medications with another person. Your pills are for only your use.
• Renew prescriptions on time. That includes picking-up refills and making regular appointments with your doctor.
• Store drugs correctly, out of the reach of pets and children.
• Question your caregiver about any drugs that are not familiar.
• Talk to you doctor before chang-ing the way you take your pills. You could have a side effect or it may be too big of a dose for you.

Why is this so important?

Medication errors are an accident that is (in most cases preventable). All of our IHS doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are highly educated and trained in their fields, but sometimes accidents happen. Consequences of medication errors can include harm to yourself or your loved one; discomfort from side ef-fects; and delay in treatment of your condition. We want to avoid these at all costs and make sure that our healthcare system provides a safe and healthy environment for you or your loved one. If you know the common causes of these medication errors, you can help to prevent them.

What do I do if I detect a medication error?

You need to report all medication errors to your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist as soon as you detect the error. You can report the error to the provider directly, a supervisor, or the patient safety officer. You could also report the error to a tribal advo-cate, BUT you need to remember to sign a release of information in the clinic. In most cases, if the error is caught early and reported to the pro-vider, your healthcare provider can make steps to correct the error. Some things that can be done include changing medications, monitoring, or (in the worst case) administration of an antidote to prevent permanent harm. Another reason to report an error is to help the IHS facility track their errors. ALL patient errors are entered into a computer database, and they are tracked and compared nationally. This will help to prevent errors and help providers

MEDICATION SAFETY

It is very important that patient’s take an active part in their health. Including medications and medication safety.  Every patient should know their pills by name AND by why they take them. This knowledge will help you to take your
pills safely, and it will help the caregiver to treat you appropriately.

How Can I Do This?

Get informed! IHS has many patient education resources available for your use. Our strongest resource is our employees. Our doctors, nurses, and pharmacists can provide you a wealth of information on your pills.  All it takes is a little of your time!  We can also print materials about your pills and health conditions for you to research, read, and ask questions.

To Request a Refill

 Red Lake Pharmacy

REFILLS ON-DEMAND

 Request your refill when YOU have time….24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Get your refill faster

TO REQUEST A REFILL

1. Have your bottles on hand
2. Call 679-2825
3. Press #1 to request refills
4. Enter Prescription Number (the system will read-back your number, if right), Press #1
5. The system will read you the first few letters of your last name, if right, Press #1
6. If you have more refills to request, PRESS #1
7. Enter your prescription number
8. When you’re done, press #2 or hang-up

TO SEE IF YOUR REFILL IS READY

2. Call 679-2825
3. Press #3
4. Enter Prescription Number
5. The system will let you know if it is ready

Prescription Drug Abuse

If you or someone you love needs help dealing with prescription drug abuse, please get help.  There are many tribal and government resources available to you.

www.drugabuse.gov

http://www.samhsa.gov/

If you know someone or suspect that someone may be selling their prescription medications in our community, you can report them.  The best way is to contact the authorities.  If you are uncomfortable with calling the police, you can contact the pharmacy, and we will help direct you.

http://www.co.beltrami.mn.us/Departments/LawEnforcement/task_force.html

Tipline:  218-333-8353

Drug Information

Red Lake Pharmacy has a variety of references to answer your drug related questions.  In the event that you have a question that you would like to research yourself, below are some links with reliable drug information.

www.drugs.com

http://www.webmd.com/

Patient Safety

Red Lake Pharmacy is committed to providing you with safe and effective medication services.  We will partner with you to make sure that you get the best possible service that you can.  To help prevent medication errors, it is important that you know what medications you are taking.  In case of emergency, you should keep a list of your pills on you at all times.  You can follow the below tips to help keep you and your family safe.

Poison prevention

ACT FAST  - if you think someone has been poisoned!

http://www.poison.org/ 

Contact us

Phone:  218-679-2825

Fax:  218-679-0189

Webmasterà RDLPharmacists@ihs.gov







Services

Red Lake Pharmacy offers a wide variety of pharmacy services to ambulatory, hospital, and emergency patients.  Did you ever wonder what we do behind the closed doors of the outpatient pharmacy?  The ‘bread-and-butter’ of the outpatient pharmacy is the dispensing function.  This is the day-to-day processing of patient prescriptions including new orders from our providers, outside providers, and refills.  These prescriptions provide a vital service to our patients and serve as a major revenue source for our service unit.  Red Lake is considered a high-volume pharmacy.  We average 780 prescriptions per day; days after weekends and holidays we fill even more.  Last year we filled over 173,000 prescriptions.  This year we are projecting an 8% increase.  Pharmacy technicians play a vital role in getting this work done in a safe and efficient manner.  Pharm techs do many things including answering the phones, the friendly face at the window, drug ordering, robotic maintenance, and preparing prescriptions for the final check by the pharmacist.

The Red Lake Pharmacy can fill your outside prescriptions if you were referred by a Red Lake provider AND if you are eligible for IHS services.

Consultation/Education

Know Your Medicine Know Your Pharmacist.

Ever wonder where you can get up-to-date information about your pills or problems that you may have with your medications?  Ask a Pharmacist.  Your single best way to get information is to talk to your pharmacist.  Red Lake Pharmacists are always available to answer any questions you have about your drugs.  Pharmacists are also known as medication experts.  They are trained and licensed to know medications and correct doses for children, adolescents, adults, and elders.  We also specialize in therapy choices for use in pregnancy and complex diseases such as cancer.   All of the pharmacists practicing at Red Lake are Doctors of Pharmacy—which means they went to college for a long-time to be the best at what they do.

Disease state management

Today’s Pharmacists do so much more than just count pills.  Pharmacists are educated to provide a wide range of disease management services.  They are an excellent resource to assist you to manage your medications, recommend dose changes to your doctor, or address any concerns regarding your medications.

Pharmacy based Anticoagulation

Red Lake Pharmacists are certified to manage a variety of blood thinners, including warfarin and lovenox.  If you are a Red Lake patient and you are on a blood thinner, you may be eligible for this service.

Medication Therapy Management

If you or a loved one is taking ten or more medications, and you are concerned about possible drug interactions or side effects, a clinically trained pharmacist can help you.  Many people are taking more and more medications today to improve their health and extend their lives.  Unfortunately, if not taken properly, medications don’t always work the way we expect them to, and in some cases can even cause harm.  A clinical pharmacist can help you organize your medication routine, by pointing out possible interactions between prescriptions, over-the-counter medication, and herbal or supplement medications.  Clinical pharmacists can provide valuable information to you about your medications and act as a bridge between you and your doctor to get the most benefit from your medication.

Brown Bag

Ever open your cupboard and have an avalanche of pill bottles?  The Red Lake Pharmacy can assist you with making sure your medications are fresh and that you are taking only the prescriptions that are safe and appropriate for you.  Call 679-2825 to schedule an appointment today.

Automation

The Red Lake Pharmacy uses only state-of-the-art technology to help us to provide safe and efficient services.  The use of robotics and automation helps us to reduce your wait times and make sure you are getting only the medication that is safe and appropriate for you.  Our outpatient pharmacy uses 100% barcode scanning to help us to do this.  We also have several drug cabinets located around the hospital to help our nurses and doctors to have quick access to pharmacy items.

Drug Formulary

The Red Lake Hospital has a restricted drug formulary.  Every 3 months, your doctors and pharmacists meet to discuss the medications that we will have available for use.  We evaluate the newest medications and latest studies to make sure that we have safe and appropriate medications at Red Lake.  Sometimes, a patient may need a special item not stocked at Red Lake.  Your team of doctors and pharmacists will help you to get this medication or find an alternative.  Drug Formulary link—pdf