Quote:
Patient: I was prescribed Quinapril 10mg.
Pharmacist: Yes?
Pt: I received a box marked Quinapril 10mg, the foil inside says Quinapril 10mg, the capsules say Quin 10mg, and the label says QUinapril 10mg.
Ph: Yes?
Pt: They're a different colour to my last lot, are they Quinapril 10mg? !*@"!
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To people on long term medication, the medicines they are taking form a very important part of their life. The slightest of changes to any part of these medications (packaging, name, colouring, PI etc) can be very upsetting to a patient as in their mind these drugs are keeping them alive.
So, I do not think the above scenario is out of order as the patient had genuine concerns that their regular medicine's appearance had changed.
I remember when Nu-seals 300mg were the onliy form of Aspirin e/c available and they changed the tablets from red to white, there was a stream of patients returning to the pharmacy asking if they had the correct medication. The best course of action of course was to advise the patient that the appearance of their tablets had changed. This of course reduced the number of queries. Maybe this course of action would have avoided this patients irrational response.