When you come to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, please bring your current medicines from home and a list of all the medications you are taking with you.
Bringing your medications into hospital allows us to give you better care and treatment by assisting hospital staff to:
- Have a complete and accurate picture of what medications you are taking and ensure continuity of these medications
- Make sure you are provided with/administered the correct medications in hospital
- Identify any problems that you may be having with your current medications.
Types of medicines to bring into hospital
You should bring in all medicines that you have been taking prior to hospital admission. This includes:
- medicines prescribed by your doctor
- medicines you have purchased from a pharmacy or supermarket (e.g. pain relief medicines, cold and flu medicines)
- complementary and alternative medicines (e.g. medicinal products containing herbs, vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, homoeopathic medicines, traditional Chinese medicines, Ayurvedic medicines and Australian indigenous medicines).
Where possible, please bring your medicines in their original packs.
What will happen to my medications?
When you come into hospital, staff will collect your medicines and a hospital staff member (pharmacist, doctor or nurse/midwife) will go through your medicines with you to determine what medicines you have been taking and if you have had any problems with these medicines.
If you have experienced any allergic reactions or unwarranted side effects due to medicines in the past, please let our staff know.
Your medicines will be stored safely and securely at all times or returned home with a carer, where appropriate.
Will my medicines be used while I’m in hospital?
Staff will check your medicines to make sure they are suitable to use during your hospital stay.
If your medicines are suitable for use during your admission they will be stored securely and a nurse will give them to you at the correct time each day.
Your own medicines will only be used while you’re in hospital with your approval and will never be used for any other patient.