It's very important for a patient to know how to read their prescription label. A lot of medication errors occur because patients may get into a habit of taking their medicines without reading everything that's on the label, so it's always a good practice to get into looking at your prescription label every time you're about to take one of your medicines to make sure that that medicine is for you, that your name is on it, that you're supposed to be taking it rather than a family member. That the correct doctor's name is on it. That all of your personal information and your doctor's office information is correct on it. Perhaps most important is that the directions for the medication are read every time you take it. If you're supposed to take that medicine one tablet daily, you want to make sure that that medication label says that on it and that you follow the instructions. You also want to make sure that the medication isn't expired. Over time, medications can break down and become less effective, so if you're taking a medication that's expired, it may not be as effective, so you want to make sure that you're always up-to-date on your refills. And, speaking of refills, it's really important to look at that refill with the number next to it. Once you get down to zero, that's your hint to give your doctor's office a call and make sure you schedule an appointment to make sure that you don't run out of that medicine – especially for somebody with chronic diseases, who has to take a medicine every day, such as diabetes, hypertension, or high blood pressure, you want to make sure that you have enough of that medication so you don't run out and then you're kind of scrambling to play catch up.
