Why a yearly MedsCheck is worth the half-hour.

A single 30-minute conversation with your pharmacist can catch drug interactions your doctor may not know about. Here's what a MedsCheck actually covers.

The average Canadian over 65 takes more than five prescription medications. Add over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and the complexity grows considerably. Keeping track of how all those substances interact with each other is a full-time job — and it's one that pharmacists are specifically trained to do.

A MedsCheck is a government-funded pharmacist consultation available to any Ontario resident who takes at least three prescription medications. It's free. It takes about 30 minutes. And the research shows it works.

What actually happens in a MedsCheck? Your pharmacist reviews every medication you take — not just the ones we dispensed. That means your prescriptions, your OTC drugs, your vitamins, and anything a naturopath or friend may have suggested. We're looking for duplications, unnecessary medications, drugs that have been prescribed for a problem that's since resolved, and most importantly: interactions.

Drug interactions are more common than most people realize. Some are minor. Some can cause serious harm — increased bleeding risk, dangerous blood pressure swings, seizure risk. Your doctor prescribes each medication in isolation. Your pharmacist is often the only person with the full picture.

We've found interactions in patients who had seen their family physician, a specialist, and a cardiologist within the past month — and none of them knew about a supplement the patient had started that was interacting significantly with a blood thinner.

The MedsCheck also covers adherence. Are you taking your medications at the right time? With the right food or without? Certain medications are dramatically less effective — or more dangerous — depending on when and how they're taken.

You leave with a written action plan. If we identify a concern that warrants physician involvement, we contact your doctor directly. It's a 30-minute investment that can prevent a hospital visit.

If you're a regular patient, ask us to schedule your annual MedsCheck the next time you're in. If you're not yet a patient at Tartan Pharmacy, you don't need to transfer your prescriptions to book — just call ahead.

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