What's that dose again?

Patients' descriptions of their medications can cause confusion—with potentially dangerous results. For example, a patient may say she is "on 160 mg" of an antihypertensive when, in fact, she takes two 80-mg tablets per day. The health care professional may call in that medication as 160 mg, and the patient is then likely to take 2 of these 160-mg pills per day. Thus, she will be receiving 320 mg/d, not 160 mg/d.

The bottom line: always speak about medications in milligrams per pill and number of pills per day.

Rx for URIs: Validate vs Medicate

Many patients with a viral upper respiratory tract infection still expect an antibiotic prescription when they come to the office. When I see patients with cold symptoms, I always acknowledge how miserable they must feel. For example, I say, "That cough sounds awful" or "Your throat looks really red; that must hurt a lot." Then I explain that an antibiotic would not help them feel better; instead, I recommend treatments that can relieve symptoms while their immune system fights off the infection.

Patients seem much more content to leave without an antibiotic prescription when they believe that I take their symptoms seriously and have done my best to give them something to help them feel better.