Murray Bridge chemists are trying to cut down the number of elderly people who overdose or mix the wrong medications.
A blister pack system is now on offer, which means pharmacy customers can have their tablets measured into individual breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime doses, to stop any confusion.
Helpful: Murray Bridge pharmacist Viet Tran looks at dose administration aid.More than 140,000 hospital admissions nationally each year are thought to be related to the medicines people take, according to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.
Society president Grant Kardachi said there needed to be increased use of dose administration aids.
“Because of their age older Australians are more at risk from incidents relating to poor medication management,” he said.
Mr Kardachi said one in two older Australians fail to take their medication as prescribed, which can render preventative medications useless.
“The result can be an entirely avoidable life threatening emergency,” he said.
The society reported people over 65 were the biggest users of medicines and because of their age were more at risk of side effects and medication incidents.
Murray Bridge pharmacist Viet Tran said patients would often be confused after choosing a generic brand, which looked different to the original drug.
Mr Tran said the blister pack system had been effective in easing the confusion around medications.
“It’s just easier for them to manage (their medication),” he said.
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