Prevent a Medical Mistake - Check Your Medicines

One of the easiest things that you can do to prevent a medical mistake is to check your medicines before leaving the pharmacy counter. You need to check to be sure your name is on the bottle and look inside to make sure you have the right drug and the right number of pills. If you have a question or if something just does not seem right to you, ask your pharmacist before you leave the pharmacy counter. Be sure to clear up any questions before you take your medicines.

If you get your prescriptions in the mail and you have a question you can call the number provided by the mail-order pharmacy or contact your doctor or a community pharmacist (such as at a local drugstore) for information. Remember, do this before taking any of the medication.

Medical Mistake - Wrong Person

Giving a prescription drug to the wrong person is a very common medical mistake. Don't let this happen to you. Be sure your doctor, nurse and pharmacist verify your full name and a second means of identifying you before giving you a medication. This may be your birthday or full social security number.
Below is a list of the 10 most common names in the U.S. People with these names may have a higher risk of name mix-ups.
1) Smith 6) Miller
2) Johnson 7) Davis
3) Williams 8) Garcia
4) Brown 9) Rodriguez
5) Jones 10) Wilson

H1N1 Phishing Scam Alert

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has received reports of fraudulent emails (phishing) of an H1N1 "swine flu" State Vaccination Program. Users that click on the link in the email are at risk of having malicious code installed on their computers. Take the following steps to reduce the risk of a phishing attack:

• Do not follow unwanted links and do not open or respond to unwanted email messages

• Use caution when visiting un-trusted websites

• Use caution when entering personal information online

See the attached link to the CDC website for more information about this "Phishing Scam."