Medication safety
An older gentleman came into the pharmacy with a prescription for terbinafine to treat a fungal nail infection. He seemed to be in a hurry and wanted the prescription filled quickly. I asked if he had any recent bloodwork done related to this medication, and he said no. Since terbinafine can affect the liver, I took a moment to review his records and saw some irregular liver enzyme results from the past two years.
I explained to him that the infection wasn’t urgent to treat and that it would be safer to wait until he had an updated liver function test. He agreed and I advised him to talk with his doctor first. After consulting with the prescriber, the medication was changed to something better suited for his current health status.
The patient expressed his appreciation for taking the extra step to check his labs before proceeding. Because of a pharmacist, something important happened.
