Coming to the Hospital
An important part of your care requires a complete history of your medications. Physicians, nurses and pharmacists will all ask you about your medications and how you use them. The medications we need to know about include:
- all prescribed medications
- any medications you take that do not need a prescription (e.g. ibuprofen, tylenol, ASA, cough and cold products, etc)
- any nutritional supplements such as vitamins and minerals whether natural source or not
- nutraceuticals such as chondroitin, glucosamine, CoQ10, St. John's Wort, etc
- any recreational drugs such as alcohol
Your pharmacy can provide you with a list of the prescription medications they have provided to you. However, they will not include non-prescription products.
Therefore, we ask that you bring all the bottles, ointment or cream tubes, dropper bottles, puffers, etc. with you to the hospital. Any medication not needed will be returned home after they have been reviewed by your health care team. We may also ask for your support to contact your pharmacy for detailed information about your medication use at home.
In reviewing your medications you will be asked questions to confirm which of these medications you are actively taking and how you take them. You may be asked questions regarding your understanding of why you are taking each medication. Your success on medication therapy requires that we ensure you have a clear understanding of why you take each medication.
We will often work with your home pharmacist to ensure you are well supported in your new medication regimen after you are discharged from the hospital.
The primary members of the medication therapy team are physicians, nurses, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. While you are in hospital, the whole team is responsible for ensuring you receive the necessary medications and that they are delivering the desired outcomes.
Inpatient Unit Dose/IV Additive Drug Distribution Service
Specially trained pharmacy technicians work with pharmacists to ensure that medication doses are prepared and dispensed in a ready to use format for administration by nursing or medical staff.
Pharmaceutical Care Services
Pharmacists at LHSC are an important part of health care teams in many areas such as inpatient wards, pre-admit clinics and out patient clinics . They identify and resolve drug related problems for patients and provide education with respect to the appropriate use of medications.
Prescription Centre Retail Pharmacy Services
LHSC operates accredited retail pharmacies located in the lobby at the University Hospital and on Level 2 at Victoria Hospital providing services to patients, staff and visitors of LHSC.
London Regional Cancer Program Pharmacy Services
LHSC Pharmacy operates the pharmacy in the London Regional Cancer Program. The pharmacy prepares and dispenses prescriptions and chemotherapy doses for patients.
