Podcast Summary

Welcome to Dr. Warwick's podcast channel. Warwick is a practicing cardiologist and author with a passion for improving care by helping patients understand their heart health through education. Warwick believes educated patients get the best health care. Discover and understand the latest approaches and technology in heart care and how this might apply to you or someone you love. Hi and welcome to my office. I'm Warwick Bishop and I'm a cardiologist. Today I'd like to speak with you about something that is almost a soapbox for me. In fact, I could almost be standing on my soapbox right now. I'm not. I'm sitting. But the thing I'd like to talk to you about is medication and how you, as the patient, ought be thinking about dealing with medication. Every day I have people come and see me and I ask them, what tablets or medications are you on? More often than not, the patient will say something like, oh, I'm not sure, doc, or a little white one, or it's sort of brown and I have it twice a day. Descriptors that really don't help a lot. Patients will also say, don't you have it written in your notes there? Isn't it in your file? Is it in the GP letter? Maybe you could call your pharmacist. Well, the long and the short of it is that it could be in all those places. But those areas don't necessarily line up and are not automatically updated. So I may see a patient, provide them with a script. The GP's record may not reflect that because they haven't prescribed it. The pharmacy ought know it. as long as you've gone to the same pharmacy. The message here, to the largest extent, is that the responsibility for what medication you take rests with you. No one else, it rests with you. The example I use for my patients is very straightforward. documented list of exactly what they take on a daily basis written on a small piece of paper or card that they keep in their wallet with their driver's license or their Medicare card or other identification. If it's in their wallet or purse then if they were to ever have a problem the attending medical staff can look at that information and know what's going on. The medications really tell a story about what's your medical background, what conditions are being treated. And they help the medical community who are looking after you, the professionals looking after you, know the best way to deal with exactly your requirements. This becomes extraordinarily important with drugs that may thin the blood. Novel oral anticoagulant drugs, such drugs as Xeralto, Pradaxa, and Eliquis, which are used commonly in the treatment of atrial fibrillation to thin the blood. Imagine the scenario. You're out, you have atrial fibrillation, and for some reason slip, trip, fall over, and bang your head. You're not at home. You're not near your doctor's surgery or near the pharmacist. You've lost consciousness because of the bang on the head. Do you think if the people who find you identify quickly that you're on a blood thinning agent and that you've had a bump on the head, that this could improve your medical care? I don't want to sound like I'm making a pun, but really it's a no-brainer. My strong advocacy is for you to be completely and utterly responsible for the medications you take, that you have that clearly documented, whether you're helped by family, friends, your pharmacist, your GP, or even your specialist. Keep that list right up to date because it will give you the best possible care you can get and it will help the doctors, nurses. and other medical staff who may be looking after you. I hope that makes a bit of sense and I wish you the very best. Thank you. You have been listening to another podcast from Dr. Warwick. Visit his website at drwarwickbishop.com for the latest news on heart disease. If you love this podcast, feel free to leave us a review.