Management of Personal Medication

We strive to provide safe medical services by checking the medicines that patients are using when they are admitted to HIBMC.

"Patient's personal medication" refers to medicine normally taken by the patient and brought to HIBMC when they start making hospital visits or when they are admitted as inpatients. These medications include all oral medication, injections (such as insulin), eye drops, adhesive patches, topical creams, etc.

Patients who regularly take any health foods or supplements should let us know at the same time. They should also bring their entire bag of medications. In order for us to check the medications precisely, they should also bring in any medication charts or documents with directions for usage.

Procedures for Personal Medication Management:

１．A nurse receives the medication from the patient.

When the patient is admitted to the hospital, or at the time of the interview when he/she starts visiting as an outpatient, the patient should give a nurse all medications that he/she is using. The medication charts or documents giving directions for usage and also a list of health foods or supplements that are regularly taken should be given as well. At this time, the nurse will ask for a list of over-the-counter medications and supplements regularly taken, the conditions of their use, how they are self-administered for health management, etc.

The nurse will then give the medication received to the pharmacist at HIBMC and relay the information on the patient's over-the-counter medications and supplements, the conditions of their use, dosage, self-administration conditions, etc.

2.Pharmacy Section checks the personal medication

The pharmacist inputs the patient's present prescription medication, over-the-counter medication and supplement information into the patient chart, based on the information received from the nurse. This includes the medication name, method of use, dosage, and usage conditions.

At that time, a check will be done to determine any duplicate dosages, drug interactions, and combined use contraindications. If the patient's medication is not in our inventory, the information on an equivalent medication's name will be inputted, as well as information on any medication he/she is taking that requires special attention in usage and storage, such as medications that promote hemorrhaging, narcotics, etc.

Also, at the time of their admittance into the hospital, we will check the amount of medication the patients bring in.

3.The doctor decides whether or not personal medication can continue to be taken.

Taking into consideration the information regarding medications brought in and the information obtained from patient interview, the doctor decides whether or not they can continue to be taken and will explain this to the patient.

The purpose of checking medications brought in:

A. Duplicate dosages can be avoided.

If medications with similar effects are taken concurrently, the effect can be too strong and possibly result in side effects . Also, duplicate medications are wasteful.

B. Contraindicated combinations (medications that should not be taken together) and incompatible combinations can be avoided.

If the combinations of the medications taken are not appropriate, the effects can be too strong or the patient may experience side effects as a result . Also, sometimes the expected effects are not attained.

C. We can check to see whether or not any of the medications or health foods brought in by the patient will influence the tests.

There are some medications that have an effect on PSA levels, which are used as a tumor marker in prostate cancer treatment.

D. The patient can wisely use this medical resource, their medications, without wasting them.

Depending on the medical facility, the medications that are used (or kept in stock) will differ. We determine whether we have the same medications as those the patients received at other hospitals, and if we don't, we will check to see which medications we have are equivalent.

By precisely relaying to the doctor in charge of the patient the information about the medications the patient brings in, the patient can continue to take his/her regular medications during the course of particle beam radiation therapy.